Profiles: Waterways people
Five minutes with... Matt Ashmall
The newest member of Promarine Finance’s senior management team reflects on 30 years in the marine finance industry
Tell us a bit about your career and how you first got into marine finance
Around the time that I left school, my father was made redundant and he was offered a job by a friend of his who owned a local finance company. Dad decided not to take the job and I was offered an interview, which resulted in a job that I’ve stuck with ever since.
Originally, I was doing car finance and then residential caravan finance. The facility we had for the caravans lent itself to the marine market and I moved over to the boating side of things in about 1990 with the creation of RoyScot Larch.
Living in Abingdon close to the Thames, I’ve always been happy either on or by the river. I’ve sailed locally and fished since I was ten, so it was a natural progression for me to move into this sector.
What led you to joining the team at Promarine Finance?
I was with RoyScot Larch for 27 years where I finished as Head of Marine Finance. When our joint venture partner, RBS, withdrew our funding line, we couldn’t find another backer to take on the whole company, as most other lenders don’t offer finance for residential boaters. I made some enquiries and managed to find a role at Shawbrook Bank where I was able to take my product with me. I jumped into the marine and aviation team there and I had a very successful five years.
Then the same thing happened again. Shawbrook decided to withdraw from the consumer market and I was looking for another job. This was just prior to the first lockdown in 2020, so I was transferred to the collections team helping my customers and others through the first stages of the Covid-19 nightmare.
After a couple of other roles, I was approached by Stuart from Promarine Finance to work for him, bringing my expertise to an already highly successful marine finance company.
What makes your marine finance service different?
I’ve always made an effort to get to know my customers and this has paid dividends, not only in repeat business but also when they are experiencing difficulties. To my mind, it’s all about building personal relationships and with Promarine Finance I can still do this, but with the added benefit of a slick online application, which speeds up the decision-making process.
I get a lot of people come and say hello to me at the Crick Boat Show, and there aren’t many marinas in the UK where I can’t go and not get offered a cup of tea by a former or current client, which is nice.
What do customers often not know about marine finance?
Loans from banks or non-specialist lenders are going to be cheaper sometimes, but you don’t get the benefit of working with an expert by going through a specialist marine finance company.
While it’s a relatively simple process to purchase a boat, you do have to have some knowledge to make sure that you don’t get caught out with the wrong paperwork. We’re lucky in this country to have excellent boat brokers and I always suggest a first-time buyer goes through a broker, if possible. Private transactions are trickier, but still an option.
We sometimes have to put buyers straight and explain that they really need to understand the condition of the vessel they’re purchasing both above and below the waterline. It’s not just about making sure the boat is safe enough to secure a loan against, it’s also about starting off with a really good maintenance regime. If they know the hull will need some work doing in the next couple of years, for example, they can budget for that.
How has the marine finance sector changed over your career?
Technically we’re still offering the same packages that have been proven to work for the industry since I started. Obviously, things have changed in that time, predominantly in respect of regulatory requirements when lending to consumers. This has made borrowing for the consumer a much safer affair but has reduced some product choice.
When I first started, we were only dealing with narrowboats; now it’s a wider range of vessels for residential and leisure use, ranging from older narrowboats to new-build sailaway wide-beams. At Promarine Finance we also have a strong appetite for ocean-going boats such as motor boats, sailing yachts and RIBs, which I am looking forward to getting to know more about.
I have also seen a great deal of advancement in the quality of vessels, not only in terms of the workmanship but also technological advances. I can remember when the first LED lights were being used and it was a real game changer; now it’s the norm. The fit-outs are fantastic and there’s so much new technology on board, especially now with solar systems and electric engines. It might be a cottage industry but it’s at the forefront of much forward-thinking.
What advice do you wish you’d received at the start of your career?
That’s an interesting one. I think it would have been beneficial for me at the beginning to get a bit more hands-on with boats. I know my stuff now, but I think in the first five years I was relying on other people’s expertise.
I should also have listened more to my elders. I did have some wonderful mentors to learn from – Pat and Chris Collidge, who headed up Collidge & Partners, and Virginia Currer who ran VC Marine, for example. Listening to people who know what they’re talking about applies to any job – although, at 19 years old, like many, I knew it all!
Now I try to share that experience and often provide help to people who may not be borrowing money from me. They’ll phone me up and I’ll point them in the right direction. I don’t mind doing that. We’re all working for the same thing – getting people out on the water and enjoying boating in a safe way – and I will always try and promote that.
at Crick a few years ago.
Finally, what are you most proud of in your career?
I think without doubt it was setting up the Favourite Boat in Show competition [which is now a popular feature of the Crick Boat Show]. While inspecting a narrowboat during its build, I was talking to a carpenter from Kingsground Narrowboats who commented that it was a shame there wasn’t a competition for newly built boats as he thought there was a good chance of them winning it with the one he was working on.
I set up the first Favourite Boat in Show competition and, lo and behold, Kingsground won it. That was at the last Braunston Boat Show, and when the event moved to Crick, I took the competition with me.
It started off as a bit of fun as the public, not the trade, were voting, but it’s grown and is now taken quite seriously. I hope as long as there’s a show, the competition will continue as it’s a good indicator of what the public like.
