In today’s international property market, wealthy individuals and families increasingly require solutions that span multiple jurisdictions, diverse legal systems and varied regulatory expectations. An ability to manage these complexities – and turn them into potential opportunities – is one of the ways how a private bank can deliver differentiated value across its residential real estate lending offering.
Many high net worth clients hold assets in different countries, each with its own lending landscape. Traditional domestic lenders can often struggle to take a holistic view of these configurations and navigate the cross-border residential real estate landscape.
We believe it is crucial to begin with understanding a client’s full cross-border position, not only their immediate financing need, but how their broader real estate and liquidity profile might be improved. This often leads to solutions that unlock flexibility or cash out potential that clients did not initially realise was available.
Optimising residential real estate across jurisdictions
A hallmark of Deutsche Bank Private Bank’s offering is our ability to structure lending across multiple countries through a single facility.
In a recent case, one client held prime residential assets across different European jurisdictions. They were seeking to maximise the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on one purchase in a Western European country. In initial discussions, another property was identified elsewhere in Europe with a small amortising mortgage against it.
Instead of offering siloed loans per property, we engineered a unified structure that maximised LTV and optimised pricing across both assets, while simplifying the overall borrowing experience.
This included:
- A consolidated facility with two tranches, each secured appropriately depending on jurisdictional requirements.
- Cross collateralisation using both real estate assets as well as eligible liquid assets.
- A centralised booking centre that ensured efficiency and consistency throughout the process.
This integrated approach helped deliver an outcome that would have been difficult to achieve through a single market lender, given the client’s specific needs.
Value through collaboration
Strong intermediary relationships are integral to how Deutsche Bank Private Bank operates. We work closely with specialist brokers and legal partners to ensure the client benefits from the full strength of our offering.
In this case, a trusted intermediary knew that the client would benefit from a more global perspective and engaged us early.
That collaboration enabled a clear demonstration of our international lending capabilities, supported a consultative process that built confidence among all parties, and delivered what we believe was a seamless experience despite the involvement of multiple assets, jurisdictions and legal frameworks.
Delivering clarity in multi-jurisdictional real estate
Cross‑border lending can be intimidating, even for experienced property owners. We focus on transparency and keeping clients informed throughout the process, providing multiple term sheets early to ensure alignment, clarifying jurisdiction‑specific requirements, and working proactively with legal and valuation partners.
By anticipating issues before they arise, we were able to navigate the idiosyncrasies of four different jurisdictions efficiently and maintain a process that felt smooth, predictable and centred around the client and meeting their needs.
Despite the legal and structural complexity, we executed the full transaction – from initial approval to drawdown – in just six weeks. That level of responsiveness is central to our value proposition: clients benefit from the strength of a global platform without sacrificing agility.
Building long term relationships
By delivering a differentiated international real estate solution, we opened the door to broader investment, liquidity and strategic discussions with the client. For Deutsche Bank Private Bank, every transaction could be the start of a wider relationship and a potential opportunity to support clients facing similar challenges.
