LEADING LEARNER
Celebrating with our top learners! This month we feature Martin Jessop, who is a Director within the Commercial Banking business of Coutts, specialising in Hotels, who was presented with an award at the HOSPA Annual Awards Ceremony earlier this year.
M
artin achieved the highest overall grade for Level One, of the HOSPA Financial Management course which he completed in August 2019. Martin provides a full Relationship Management service to hotel clients across the UK. His main role is lending to hotel owners for acquisition, property improvements, refinance and repositioning. He also assists in servicing their day to day banking and working with fellow industry specialists to help Hoteliers to reach their goals. Martin’s client portfolio currently consists of 50 hotels ranging from budget to boutique, limited service to full service, independent to brands. Aside from servicing existing clients, Martin networks extensively and undertakes business development activities to win new business for the Bank. Coutts has a world-renowned reputation for a personal approach to private banking and wealth management. For over three centuries, Coutts have perfected exceptional service. With an unrivalled appreciation of the intricacies of wealth, Coutts understands both the subtlety and the complexity of the lives our clients lead. The Bank has a rich and diverse history, dating back over 300 years. From our foundations in 1692 to the present day, Coutts have always worked with exceptional people and maintained values of excellence. Coutts is proud to have won a number of industry awards including Best Private Bank in the UK – Global Finance – World’s Best Private Bank Awards 2019. Martin says: “Prior to my HOSPA studies, the last time I studied was 31 years
ago at the age of 23 when I achieved my ACIB Qualification (Associated Chartered Institute of Banking). Around 20 years ago I was working in a Business Development role for a competitor bank with stretching lending targets. I established strong relationships with Financial Intermediaries and Brokers, and many of the deals that were offered at the time related to the Hotel sector. I built up a portfolio of hotel clients and attended industry events to learn about the sector and advanced from there. I now have 36 years’ experience in Banking and have worked my way up the
ladder for four Banks. Immediately prior to joining Coutts five years ago, I headed up a Hotels team at a competitor Bank. It was a challenging time through the recession and I wanted to end my career at a Bank that was looking to grow their lending book. Coutts is a fantastic brand which has opened up lots of doors. We have established a strong team and have built up a strong portfolio of hotel clients in the short time I have been there. Our sweet spot is debt between £5m to £30m but we can go higher and continue to look for new opportunities in London and the Regions. Coutts encourages and expects
THE OVERVIEW | JULY 2020
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