Through our close-knit relationships across our firm our full range of expertise is at your fingertips. Helping you deliver first class service to your clients across their personal and business worlds. Jenny Sargeant, partner lead of our specialist private banking team sits down with dispute resolution partner Milan Kapadia.
In a nutshell what’s your area of expertise?
I am a contentious banking and commercial disputes lawyer. I advise lenders and insolvency practitioners on distressed and contentious situations and private capital clients on a full range of disputes that arise across their business ventures. I am also a member of the India desk at Fladgate and work with a number of Indian private banks and private capital clients in India.
When do you come across private banks or their clients in your practice?
For private banks this can be where there are payment or other default issues under existing lending arrangements or where situations arise that require a bank to “manage” or “exit” from a situation (such as finance they cannot continue with or situations affected by sanctions or criminal proceedings). I help clients unpack the situation they find themselves in, review solutions and formulate an appropriate exit strategy. I also act for private capital clients across a range of banking and commercial contract disputes. Specialising in working with UHNW and HNW clients (particularly from India) I support these clients across a broad range of sectors where there are challenges or issues arising from their investments or disputes across their business ventures (usually between business partners). These clients are highly entrepreneurial, and I have to be quick to understand new and different industries and sectors. My clients have a wide range of needs and operate across jurisdictions. The great thing is the work is always new and interesting whether my clients are investing in real estate, restaurants or emerging sectors. The work that I do with private capital clients enhances my ability to advise private banks in distress and contentious situations with their borrowers because I have a good understanding of the drivers for these clients and therefore the wider solutions that might be employed.
Can you give an example of where you best add value?
I am a calm level-headed person bringing stability to tricky situations. Commercial disputes are never presented up front with full facts, and I am good at getting stuck into the detail and then bringing rational thinking to the situation to help clients optimise their outcomes.
Do you have a mantra or saying that best describes how you work?
Get stuck in. I make my client’s difficulty or problem my problem.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
Every day I am thinking of a new solution for a client. It is hugely rewarding delivering strategies that help clients achieve best outcomes. Also, the entrepreneurial nature of private capital clients means the work I do is always varied and I get to meet some amazing people. UHNW and HNWs often have a different perspective and way of working, and it is really rewarding working closely with these clients helping them achieve their objectives and to see how they run their business ventures.
What do you think is key to assisting UHNW families in your area of expertise?
Being responsive and agile so that you can be available as and when their busy worlds allow them time to catch up with you. My clients also want commercial solutions that move them forward to their strategic objectives.
How can we best bring together “business” and “personal” requirements for our private clients to deliver first class service for them?
My clients invest in such a wide range of sectors and industries, so their business and personal needs are very broad. Being excited by that breadth allows me to engage and support them across their full range of needs. It is rare for private capital clients to find professionals able to engage across the whole of what they do and willing to raise their heads above the parapet of their area (which means their client has to do all the helicopter view thinking themselves). Trusted relationships come from having a full understanding of all the levers and dynamics affecting our clients and a willingness to help them solve problems that span their whole world.
How do you help private banks increase the quality and efficiency of their services?
My knowledge of markets/sectors (and drivers for private capital clients) and regulatory developments allows me to support banks in aligning their businesses to accommodate client and risk drivers. I appreciate the stresses private banks will face in their daily business and recognise it is a partnership navigating best outcomes within the bank’s policy framework and managing different stakeholder expectations. It is also important to unpack the “learning” from disputes through educational sessions and policy reviews to support transactional teams in delivering first class client service supported by risk mitigation policies and processes.
What would be the “one thing to watch out for” coming ahead in your area?
Private capital and financial services claims have long since been some of the most frequently issued claims in our courts. Investment and lifestyle fraud has gone through the roof since the pandemic. The dynamics that contribute to this in the private capital ecosystem are the range of intermediaries, the speed of transacting and entrepreneurial approach of investors together with delegated authority (or perceived delegated authority) to agents. I am currently acting for an Indian UBO who bought a property in the UK through delegated authority and relied on and trusted professionals in the UK who unfortunately tried to defraud him. Private capital clients moving or investing into new jurisdictions are particularly vulnerable at this point of transition whilst they establish trusted connections. This is one of the challenges of supporting clients that are increasingly international in their lifestyle and business pursuits. And trusted and approved connections/referrals are definitely
something that private banks can support their clients with. A basic thing that helps from an investment perspective is to ensure clients always have legal representation even if a client has to approve executional legal costs for this advice. Money spent earlier is better than more money spent later resolving something that has gone wrong. With my India desk hat on, India is going to be the boom story for the next two decades in terms of global wealth representation. We are going to see an increasing shift in ownership of wealth to India. So, despite global political instability I think we are going to continue to see Indian families relocating to and pursuing
investments in the UK.
Our connections across our firm are here to provide you with all the expertise you need so if you want to continue any of these conversations or have any private client queries, please feel free to get in touch with Milan.
For more information about contentious banking and/or disputes please visit our website here.
For any Private Banking related queries please contact Jenny Sargeant.
