Jordan Fearnley Brown – Co-Founder & Principal – Albatross Lending Group
The culture inside a lending business shapes the experience outside of it – often in ways the client never sees, but always feels
A broker once told me that the most stressful part of their job isn’t finding the deal; it’s not knowing what’s happening to it once they’ve sent it across. That stayed with me, because it’s not a process problem, it’s a culture problem.
Most lenders will tell you their people are their greatest asset, fewer of them have built the culture to prove it. There’s a gap between what a business says it values and how it behaves when a case gets complicated, a timeline slips, or a broker needs an answer on a Friday afternoon. That gap is where reputations are made, or lost.
There’s a version of financial services where the underwriters are the people who say no. Where risk is a department that exists to slow things down. Where the back office and the front line feel like different businesses operating under the same roof. At Albatross, we’ve worked hard to build something different: a culture where every decision, from credit approval to compliance check, is made with the client’s best interest and our own reputation, in mind. Our underwriters aren’t deal blockers, they’re deal makers. They think about structure, not just policy. They ask “how do we make this work?” before they ask “should we?”
“My job isn’t to find reasons to decline, it’s to understand the deal well enough to know how to get it done. Every case that comes across my desk, I’m asking – what does this borrower need, and how do we structure around that?” Craig Reiselson, Senior Underwriter, Albatross Lending Group.
This matters more than people acknowledge. When an underwriter turns something around quickly and communicates clearly, the BDM walks into their next broker conversation with confidence. When they sit on something for a week, the broker has already started looking elsewhere. The ripple effect of a back-office decision reaches the client faster than you’d think – and further than most people realise.
“I think about the broker on the end of every case. They’ve made a commitment to their client. If I can give them a clear answer quickly – even if that answer involves a conversation – I’m protecting that relationship, not just processing an application” Jemima Hayes, Senior Underwriter, Albatross Lending Group.
Culture isn’t all about process. It’s about people. One of the things I’m proudest of at Albatross is the way we have approached building a team that isn’t one dimensional. We have experienced operators who’ve seen every deal type and can make a call at pace.
“When I joined Albatross, I wasn’t sure how much of the deal journey I’d actually see. However, from day one I’ve been involved – talking to solicitors, managing timelines, making sure nothing falls through the cracks. That visibility changes how you think about your role entirely.” Ema Sileviciute, Case Manager Albatross Lending Group
That visibility is intentional. We don’t want people working in silos, processing their portion of a transaction without any sense of who it affects or why it matters. When a case manager understands the brokers position, and an underwriter understands the borrower’s circumstances, better decisions get made. Faster, too.
It also changes how we hire. We’re not just looking for technical competence – although that’s non-negotiable. We’re looking for people who are naturally curious about the deal, who care about the outcome, and who bring energy to a problem rather than caution. Those people are rarer than they should be in this industry.
There’s a quote I keep coming back to: “Don’t wait for the storm to pass, learn how to dance in the rain.” It’s fitting here, because the best relationships aren’t built during the easy times. It’s when things go wrong – when a timeline shifts, a complication emerges, a deal needs reworking – that the strength of a relationship really shows. And it’s in those moments that the individuals behind our business step up to create a positive outcome for everyone involved. That’s not something you can train in a week. It’s something you build, slowly, through the culture you choose to create.
For brokers, the effect is tangible. When every person involved in a case is pulling in the same direction – genuinely motivated to find a solution – you feel it. Not in the form of a slick pitch or a polished deck, but in the speed of a response, the clarity and the clarity of a conversation.