Episode: Private Credit & Property Finance with Deborah Ford
In this episode of PropConnex Spotlight’s Behind the Role series, host Samara Issa speaks with Deborah Ford, Executive Director of Loan Origination and Management at Centuria Bass. With over a decade of experience across institutions including Deutsche Bank, ANZ, and MaxCap, Deborah shares an inside look at the world of private credit — how it works, how it differs from bank lending, and what it takes to build a career in the space.
In this episode, Deborah covers:
- Her career path from a graduate program at NAB into institutional banking, and how she found her way into property lending roughly a decade ago
- The key differences between banks and non-bank lenders — including leverage limits, risk appetite, and speed of execution
- What private credit actually is, and how firms like Centuria Bass step in when banks pull back their lending parameters
- The end-to-end life of a loan: from broker introduction and term sheets, through due diligence and investment committee approval, to settlement
- The risk mitigation tools used in real estate lending, including mortgages, personal guarantees, and pre-sales benchmarks for construction deals
- How current market conditions — high interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and diverging conditions across Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth — are shaping lending decisions
- Her advice for students: build genuine interest in real estate, do your research, and let your passion for the industry come through in interviews and networking
A must-listen for anyone curious about how private credit fills the gap left by traditional bank lending, and what a career in loan origination and management really looks like day to day.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Music.
