Shaun Carroll announces retirement
01/05/2024
Shaun Carroll, whose long history in the field of block discounting saw him spend the last five years at Aldermore and the previous 23 years at Hitachi, has just announced his retirement. Cryptically, he describes himself as Retired / Self-employed, a term which hints at a desire to remain usefully involved, at some level, with his sizeable network of firm friends in the industry.
In a LinkedIn post yesterday Shaun wrote: “It’s hard to believe that it’s 44 years since I turned up outside Barclays Bank in my local village to start a career in Finance.
“I never really enjoyed my time in banking; however it did provide a window and then a door into the world of Asset Finance in which I have loved my time. It is true when people say that if you find a job you love, you will never do a day’s work in your life.
“I pretty soon figured out that I was selling money and that one pound note looked pretty much like the next and that it was down to the individual to be the ‘feature’ and the ‘benefit’ and make the difference. For the next forty years I just did the basics putting my customers — many of whom became my friends — at the front of everything I did. I feel privileged to have had the journey I have had.
“I was and still am passionate about backing the right cases. I reckon I locked horns with every single credit person I have worked with in my pursuit of supporting the right people, and in doing so I was rewarded certainly in Block Discounting by helping goodness knows how many brokers become lenders by providing their first facility and then watching them prosper.
Amid a flurry of LinkedIn responses expressing doubt that someone like Shaun could ever fully ‘retire’ from an industry he’s been so invested in for forty years, he admits that he hasn’t actually “fixed a firm picture in my mind of what retirement has to look like other than I have vowed never to watch Cash in the Attic or Countdown.”
Shaun himself acknowledges this might not be a full and final step back from the working world: “What I do have is an incredible network of contacts coupled with a deep knowledge of not just Block Discounting but business in general and it would be churlish if I didn’t turn this into something useful at some point, so who knows?”
Robert Murray, ex-PCF Bank, summed up the general sentiment, saying: “Great post Shaun and all the very best in retirement. It was a privilege to do business with you over many years and I’m grateful for all the support you gave us. You are the legend of block and long lunches, but above all a great bloke and a true mate.”
At Leasing World we cannot help noticing how warm and wide-ranging the responses to Shaun’s announcement have been. It all says a great deal about what a fantastic community we have in asset finance and how highly regarded Shaun is within it. Here’s hoping he finds it impossible to stay away for long!
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