Accountants 'at epicentre' of growth in non-bank finance

Accountants are helping open the door to alternative sources of finance and investment as the trusted advisers to small business, say the heads of Assetline Capital and AltX. Speaking on this week's Accountants Daily podcast, the co-founder of mortgage-backed investment specialist AltX, Nick Raphaely, said accountants were critical because they operated at the "epicentre of their client's affairs". "Whether a client is seeking funds, and goes to their accountant to work out what the best solution is, or whether a client is long on funds and looking for a way to deploy them – either way, the client generally ends up having that discussion with the accountant," he said. AltX clients included SMSFs, individuals, companies and trusts, but they needed to be certified as wholesale investors. "Investors need to bring with them an accountant's certificate, confirming their income or the assets before they can invest with us," he said. "So we never get a new investor at AltX without an accountant by their side." The managing director of Assetline Capital, Paul Munt, said it was a similar picture when it came to non-bank lending. "Accountants are at the heart of these transactions, be it from providing the financials or supporting the income, or actually sitting down with us and having a chat with the client and our credit teams around how to find a solution for the client," he said. Over a decade in operation, Assetline Capital had lent $1.8 billion and specialised in tailored credit to companies outside the mainstream. "We've been able to do that through a broad range of products – so we cover construction and development, lending, bridging and short-term finance. And also we've just introduced a long-term 30-year debt product," he said. "The difference for us has been the ability to get to know the businesses – really understand them in greater detail – and then be quick and agile to meet their needs. So that's really our point of difference." "We have a number of sources of capital and we work with AltX on being one of those." "We want to raise the profile of the non-banks and make sure that people understand that there are options out there. "We like to build relationships and the key people involved in any transactions are the ultimate lender themselves, the accountant and/or the broker partners." "So we deal with accountants every day."

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