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// THE IN-TRAY / CHAPTER 56 FILES · ONE MINUTE EACH

THE IN-TRAY · CHAPTER 5 OF HOW BANKERS THINK

6 files on The Lendability Matrix

The question this chapter answers: What kind of debt can this industry support — and where does that read break?

THE FRAMEWORK, NAMED · THE LENDABILITY MATRIX →

Make a call on any file and every option opens with how far it sits from the senior banker’s read. There is no score.

FILE 1 OF 6 · THE CALL

A software company with recurring subscription income and almost no physical assets asks for a US$3m loan. The bank's standard template asks for security over property and plant.

Your move?

FILE 2 OF 6 · THE CALL

A trucking company owns its fleet and earns from spot freight rates that swing widely from year to year.

What kind of lending fits?

FILE 3 OF 6 · THE CALL

An events business: no owned assets, revenue that halves in a bad year, a well-regarded founder. It wants US$1m to expand.

Your first read?

FILE 4 OF 6 · THE FIRST QUESTION

On paper a dairy processor sits in the matrix's best quadrant: heavy assets, stable cash flow. Milk prices are at a ten-year high.

What do you ask?

FILE 5 OF 6 · THE FIRST QUESTION

A packaging maker: owned plant, ten-year contracted revenue, and one customer buying 70% of its output.

Which fact do you weigh first?

FILE 6 OF 6 · THE CALL

A winery owns its vineyards, land worth more than the loan, but its earnings swing with each vintage and with export prices. It wants a ten-year loan repaid in equal instalments.

Your view?

6 FILES · PICK A CALL ON ANY OF THEM