There is a tendency for SME ‘Boards’, or informal support networks for an entrepreneur, NOT to evolve and grow as the business grows. Often a Board or an executive team can place too much reliance on one person knowing the finances and they pay cursory attention to the figures themselves.

I’ve recently had two cases where a lender has agreed to provide a loan to a SME but have included within their security requirements a ‘legal charge over the shares of the company’ (in addition to the more normal request for a Mortgage Debenture). I’ve never encountered this in years of experience.

It’s not just fictional characters who have to deal with the “Iron Bank” – many of us need a strategy when Winter Comes and our lender just wants us to be history.

Organising funding for property development involves challenges. Loans are available but from a plethora of different types of lenders with different criteria, all taking the opportunity to fill the gap left by the High Street banks who remain very cautious about this sector.