A chief financial officer whose £1,900,000 mortgage had sat with a private bank since a bonus-heavy purchase five years earlier found at renewal that the bespoke route no longer earned its place: the facility came with £500,000 of his savings and investments held with the bank as a condition, and his income now read cleanly on a mainstream basis. The loan was refinanced interest-only at 60% loan to value (LTV) with the large-loan team of a top-five UK clearing bank, at roughly 4.4 times recognised income, and the £500,000 came back under his own control.
Client Snapshot
£3,200,000
Property value
£1,900,000
Mortgage balance, in his sole name
60%
Loan to Value (LTV)
Chief financial officer of a listed engineering group, 49; previously a managing director in investment banking · Six-bedroom 1930s detached house, Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London (existing home, bought five years ago) · Interest-only, 16-year term to his planned retirement at 65; three-year fixed rate
Key constraint
The private bank's renewal asked for the £500,000 of assets to stay with it and proposed a higher margin, while a mainstream lender had to be satisfied that £1,900,000 fitted its loan-to-income cap on a sole application
Context
The renewal letter arrived in the same week as the new valuation. Five years earlier the client had been a managing director at an investment bank, with a bonus that outweighed his base and a purchase at £2,600,000 that the high street lenders on our panel were unlikely to underwrite in the time available. A private bank had: a facility of £2,100,000, assessed on the whole picture, on a margin over base rate, reviewed each year, with £500,000 of his savings and investments placed with the bank as a condition of the relationship.
His position had changed since. He had moved to a listed engineering group as chief financial officer, on a £300,000 base with an annual cash bonus, and the mortgage balance had come down to £1,900,000 through overpayments. The house, a six-bedroom 1930s detached in Hampstead Garden Suburb, had been valued at £3,200,000. His wife runs a small architecture practice; their two children are adults and long left home. The renewal letter proposed a higher margin and restated the condition on the £500,000. He wanted to know whether the arrangement still made sense, or whether it had simply never been questioned.
The Challenge
Two things had to be true for a move to work. The first was income recognition. On a sole application, £1,900,000 has to sit inside a mainstream lender's loan-to-income cap, and a cash bonus does not count in full at many lenders on our panel: a common treatment may take 50% of a two-year average, some lenders may take 60%, and a few may go higher with a track record. On base salary alone, £300,000 at a standard multiple of around 4.49 times supports roughly £1,347,000, well short. The bonus treatment decides whether the loan fits.
The second was the loan itself. At £1,900,000 the case may sit with the large-loan teams of the clearing banks rather than their standard ranges, and interest-only at this size may be gated: a maximum LTV for interest-only borrowing, a minimum income, a minimum amount of equity, and an accepted repayment plan. At 60% LTV with £1,300,000 of equity, those gates were open. How the two routes compare, and when each earns its place, is set out in our article on whether to consider a private bank mortgage → and in the two-routes section of our large loans guide →
Director and Mortgage Adviser
Specialist mortgage broker for City professionals. David works with senior professionals reviewing private bank arrangements at renewal, testing whether a clearing bank's large-loan team may now carry the loan without the relationship conditions.
Lender Strategy
We tested the question with a lender illustration in hand before anything was said to the private bank. The large-loan team of a top-five UK clearing bank on our panel may take 60% of a two-year average of annual cash bonus, where the bonus is evidenced on payslips for both years and the latest was paid by the current employer. On that treatment: (£200,000 + £240,000) ÷ 2 = £220,000; 60% = £132,000; added to the £300,000 base, recognised income is £432,000. £1,900,000 divided by £432,000 is roughly 4.4 times, inside the lender's standard cap at this LTV. The long-term incentive plan was left out entirely; it was not needed, and share-based awards may be excluded from income at a number of mainstream lenders in any case.
Criteria correct as of October 2026. Mortgage lending policies change regularly, for the latest advice, speak to us directly.
Worked comparison, on the same income
Chief financial officer, £300,000 base, cash bonuses of £200,000 and £240,000
The same income, read three ways against a £1,900,000 balance. Each bar shows the income a lender may recognise.
- Base salary
- £300,000
- Annual cash bonus
- £200,000 and £240,000 in the last two years; two-year average £220,000
- Long-term incentive plan
- In shares, left out of the assessment
- Requirement
- £1,900,000 interest-only at 60% Loan to Value (LTV)
£300,000 at around 4.49 times = roughly £1,347,000, short of the £1,900,000 balance.
£220,000 × 50% = £110,000; plus £300,000 base = £410,000 recognised income; £1,900,000 is roughly 4.6 times, above a standard cap and dependent on an enhanced tier.
£220,000 × 60% = £132,000; plus £300,000 base = £432,000 recognised income; £1,900,000 is roughly 4.4 times, inside the standard cap.
The same income throughout. The share of the bonus a lender may count moves recognised income from £410,000 to £432,000, and the £1,900,000 loan from roughly 4.6 times to roughly 4.4 times.
Please note: These figures are for illustrative purposes only. The actual amount you can borrow will depend upon your personal circumstances, credit profile, LTV, the lender's individual criteria and full affordability assessment.
Interest-only came next. The lender's large-loan criteria may allow interest-only up to a stated LTV ceiling for borrowers above a minimum income, with sale of the property accepted as the repayment plan where enough equity remains after the advance. At 60% LTV, with £1,300,000 of equity and a £300,000 base, the loan sat inside each of those limits, so the structure he had with the private bank carried across without a capital repayment element being forced on it. The term was set at 16 years to his planned retirement, and a three-year fixed rate was chosen over a longer one because he expects to make further lump-sum reductions from bonuses and did not want a long early repayment charge (ERC) period over them. Interest-only rules at this loan size are covered in our interest-only guide →
The private bank's facility had no early repayment charge, as these facilities often do not, so the move cost nothing to make. What it ended was the condition: once the mortgage was repaid, the £500,000 of savings and investments no longer had to sit with the bank. The application was packaged for a manual underwrite: two years of payslips and P60s showing base and bonus, the employment contract, the bonus letters, the private bank's redemption statement, the valuation, and a covering note explaining the origin of the private-bank arrangement and why the income now reads on a mainstream basis. Remortgage timing and the choice between a new lender and a product transfer are covered in our article on remortgage versus product transfer →
The Result
The Result
A £1,900,000 interest-only mortgage agreed at 60% LTV, at roughly 4.4 times recognised income
£1,900,000
Loan (interest-only; three-year fix, 16-year term)
60%
LTV
£432,000
Recognised income (base + 60% of the two-year bonus average)
Roughly 4.4×
Income multiple
Indicative terms
Within the week
Offer
4 weeks after the first call
Completion
9 weeks from the first call, timed to the renewal date
Released on redemption
£500,000
A £1,900,000 interest-only mortgage was agreed at 60% LTV on a three-year fixed rate over a 16-year term, at roughly 4.4 times the £432,000 of recognised income, priced in the mainstream large-loan range for this LTV. Indicative terms came within the week, the offer four weeks after the first call following a manual underwrite with one query on the bonus letters, and completion was timed to the private bank's renewal date, nine weeks from the first call. The £500,000 held with the private bank was released on redemption and is his to place as he chooses. His monthly cost is fixed for three years, and the bonus continues to go into lump-sum reductions.
Why This Matters for Similar Clients
A private bank arrangement made for one stage of a career is often still running, unexamined, at the next. Senior professionals who were placed with a private bank when their income was lumpy, or when a purchase had to move faster than a high street underwrite allows, may find at renewal that their income now reads cleanly on a mainstream basis, and that the relationship conditions have become the real price of the loan. The test is simple to run and costs nothing: a lender illustration from a clearing bank's large-loan team, on your current income, set against the renewal terms. Sometimes the private bank still wins. When it does not, the move can return a six-figure sum to your own control.
What We Can Do for You
- Test a private bank renewal against a clearing bank large-loan illustration on your current income, before you respond to the renewal letter
- Establish which lenders on our panel may take 50%, 60% or more of a cash bonus, and whether the loan then fits a standard cap or needs an enhanced tier
- Check the interest-only gates at your loan size: LTV ceiling, minimum income, minimum equity and the repayment plan the lender accepts
- Time the redemption to the facility's review date, so no relationship condition or charge is triggered on the way out
- Package a manual underwrite so the origin of a private-bank arrangement is explained up front
FAQs
Potentially, where your income now fits a mainstream lender's criteria and the loan sits inside its large-loan limits. The large-loan teams of several clearing banks on our panel may lend at this size, subject to income recognition, LTV and their interest-only rules.
Many private banks may ask for a sum of savings or investments to be held with the bank as a condition of the mortgage relationship, and the condition can continue for as long as the loan does. Whether that condition still suits you is part of any renewal review.
Potentially. Several mainstream lenders on our panel may offer interest-only on large loans up to a stated LTV ceiling, with a minimum income, a minimum equity requirement and an accepted repayment plan such as sale of the property. The gates differ from lender to lender.
Treatment varies: a common approach may take 50% of a two-year average, some lenders may take 60%, and a few may go higher with a consistent record. The percentage used can decide whether a large loan fits a standard loan-to-income cap or needs an enhanced tier.
No. A private bank may price a loan competitively, and for lumpy or hard-to-evidence income it may be the route that works. The comparison is the whole package, including any relationship conditions, against a mainstream illustration on your current income.
Not necessarily. Private bank facilities are often on variable terms without an early repayment charge, but some carry one, so the redemption statement is checked before any application is made.