A rising star in the mortgage sector has rounded off an eventful year with an industry award
It’s been a rollercoaster year for Cameron Curle (pictured), BDM at Barclays bank.
Just over a week ago he walked away with the Rising Star (Lenders and Service Providers) prize at the Mortgage Introducer Awards, a high point in Curle’s career to date.
“I wasn’t really expecting to get the award. I was quite happy just being nominated and getting the recognition from people within my company,” he said with genuine modesty.
Savouring his moment of triumph was all the more poignant, given his recent experience. Two months ago, instead of pondering over career plans and looking forward to a fun night out at an awards gala, he was preoccupied with a rather more pressing issue.
In September, while most brokers and lenders were scrambling to respond to the fallout from the disastrous mini budget, Curle was recovering at home after undergoing an operation for skin cancer.
The lengthy episode – he was off work for about five weeks - causes him to pause for thought, as though still processing the impact of such a traumatic experience.
“I was diagnosed in July and it was an aggressive form of cancer. They were concerned that it could have travelled in my blood, or to other areas of my body, so I had to have my lymph nodes removed from underneath both armpits,” he said.
“Fortunately, it hasn’t spread, but it was stressful (at the time). I’ve got two-year-old daughter and she’s…” he trailed off. “You start thinking things that you shouldn’t. I know you can get cancer at any stage of your life, but it did take me back. I wasn’t necessarily worried about the operation itself, but I was concerned around potential knock-on effects.”
John Lennon once said ‘life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans’, but painful experiences can also act as needy reminders of the true priorities in life, even if they appear small and insignificant to others. One such moment was when his tiny daughter joyfully whooped “That’s my dad!” while watching a video of her father receiving the award.
“The diagnosis itself was not great timing, because I was doing well at my job, but it also gave me something to focus on. It’s one of those things that come to mind,” he said.
Building relationships is also part of a BDM’s job description, a job he feels a particular affinity with.
“To be a good BDM you need to be able to answer questions right away and to have transparency, and to know that you have your brokers on board,” he said.
Having a team mentality and the ability to think on your feet are qualities shared by sportsmen, and in Curle’s case, that’s no coincidence as he once harboured ambitions to become a professional footballer.
“There are parallels between the two, such as leadership and the drive to succeed. I was never naturally the most gifted footballer, but I was quick,” he said.
At the height of his short footballing career, he played for Colchester United before doing a stint at Bishop Stortford. But once he got the mortgage bug (“I always had a keen interest in finance”) he reduced his playing days to taking part in the lower non-professional Essex leagues.
Curle’s rise through the ranks has been exclusively at Barclays since his career change back in 2010, while still in his early 20s.
But has joining the bank sector been worth it?
“Having an end goal of where you want to be is something I always do,” he said. “Mortgages, particularly with intermediaries, is a really good space to be at. It’s a growing market. There’s going to be implementation of AI and stuff like that, but customers will always need advice.”
Spoken like a true ‘centred’ forward.
