Lifestyle Financial Planning
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Property is one of the biggest financial decisions most clients will ever make. Yet too often, it is handled separately from the rest of the financial plan.
A client may speak to one person about finding or selling a property, another about the mortgage, another about tax, another about currency, another about investments, and another about retirement. Each conversation may be useful. But when no one is looking at the whole picture, value can be lost and avoidable mistakes can happen.
That is why Skybound Wealth has launched Skybound Property & Finance, a dedicated new division created to bring property sales support, finance and wider planning closer together.
The division will support private clients, families and investors with property sales, lending, refinancing, specialist finance and property-related planning decisions, with particular expertise in UK, expat and cross-border cases.
Skybound Property & Finance is led by Kieron Franklin, who joins Skybound as Group Head of Property & Finance following more than 30 years across major international banking institutions, including HSBC Bank International, RAKBANK, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Saudi Awwal Bank, formerly Saudi British Bank.
For many clients, property is not just a property decision.
The way a property is bought, financed, held, protected and eventually sold can affect cash flow, tax exposure, retirement planning, estate planning, currency risk, family security and long-term wealth outcomes.
This is especially true for clients whose lives are not neatly contained in one country.
A UK property bought while living overseas. A buy-to-let portfolio held across different tax positions. A mortgage funded by foreign-currency income. A family home linked to future retirement plans. A property sale that creates a major currency decision. A relocation where the property decision should have been planned before the move, not after it.
These are not isolated decisions. They are connected decisions. Skybound Property & Finance has been created to make sure those conversations happen together.
Skybound Property & Finance will support clients across:
Property sales and purchases: Working with selected partner firms to support clients buying or selling UK property as part of their wider financial plan.
UK residential lending: Helping UK-based and expat clients navigate UK residential lending, including cases involving foreign-currency income, overseas residency or complex employment structures.
Buy-to-let finance: Supporting clients with first investments, portfolio restructuring, refinancing and UK buy-to-let holdings, whether they live in the UK or overseas.
Specialist and complex lending: Working with high-net-worth clients and cases where standard lending processes may not fully reflect the client’s wider financial position.
Expat mortgage cases: Helping internationally mobile clients buy or refinance UK property while living abroad.
Refinancing and rate switching: Supporting clients early enough to help shape the outcome, rather than reacting only when a fixed rate is close to expiry.
Equity release and intergenerational planning: Considering property finance in the context of retirement income, estate planning, tax and family wealth transfer.
Pre-relocation property planning: Helping clients think through property and finance decisions before an international move, not only after relocation has already happened.
Property and finance decisions touch almost every part of a client’s financial life.
A property purchase or sale can be a significant currency event. For internationally mobile clients, timing, structure and exchange-rate exposure can materially affect the final outcome.
Property can also form part of a retirement plan, whether through rental income, downsizing, refinancing or equity release. Structured well, it can support the income picture. Structured badly, it can create problems later.
Ownership structure, residency, source of funds and long-term family objectives can all influence how a property should be bought, held or transferred.
The point is simple: these decisions should not be made in separate rooms. Skybound Property & Finance exists to connect the property decision to the wider plan.
Kieron Franklin brings more than 30 years of senior experience across international banking, wealth, mortgage distribution, property finance, protection strategy and proposition development.
At HSBC Bank International, Kieron led Premier & Wealth across Hong Kong and Jersey, overseeing wealth and mortgage outcomes for more than 100,000 private and affluent clients.
In the UAE, he held senior roles at RAKBANK and Commercial Bank of Dubai, with responsibility across mortgage distribution, protection strategy and wealth proposition development. He has also held senior roles at Saudi Awwal Bank, formerly Saudi British Bank.
Having worked across the UK, Hong Kong, Jersey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Kieron brings a genuinely international perspective to clients whose property and financial lives often span more than one jurisdiction.
He holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, the CeMAP Bridge qualification with Distinction, and is RDR-compliant to Level 4.
His appointment gives Skybound Property & Finance senior leadership from day one, supported by the technical understanding, commercial depth and international experience required to build the division properly.
Skybound Wealth is pleased to announce the appointment of Craig Stokes as UK Managing Director, subject to final regulatory approval. This comes just days after the firm revealed plans to expand its UK presence with new offices, adviser growth, and further investment in infrastructure.
A Chartered Financial Planner, Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, and widely respected industry voice, Craig brings over 20 years of experience in retirement planning, pension transfers, and holistic wealth advice. He has held senior positions at firms including Prudential and, most recently, served as Managing Director of PFM Associates.
But it’s not just his credentials that made him the right choice. Craig is a practitioner at heart, someone who understands the pressures, opportunities, and responsibilities of delivering advice first-hand.
“Kieron is exactly the calibre of leader we want building the next generation of Skybound’s specialist divisions.
Property is one of the biggest financial decisions our clients make, but too often it is dealt with in isolation from tax, retirement, estate planning, currency and long-term wealth strategy. That is where mistakes happen.
Kieron has led mortgage, lending and wealth propositions at major international institutions and across complex markets. His appointment gives us the senior leadership, technical understanding and commercial depth to build this properly.
This is not about adding another service line. It is about making sure property decisions are joined up with the rest of a client’s financial life.”
“Skybound has the platform, international footprint and planning culture to build a serious property and finance proposition.
After 30 years in international banking, I know how often clients make property decisions without the right lending, tax, currency or long-term planning context around them.
The opportunity here is to build something more joined up. We want clients to access property and finance support that sits alongside their wider wealth plan, not outside it.”
Skybound Property & Finance is now open for client referrals.
The right time to speak to the team is before the decision is already in motion.
Speak to Skybound Property & Finance if you are:
1. Buying, selling or financing UK property.
2. Building, restructuring or refinancing a buy-to-let portfolio.
3. Approaching the end of a fixed-rate mortgage.
4. Considering equity release as part of retirement, estate or family planning.
5. Planning an international move and need to understand the property implications for your UK assets.
6. Making a property decision that connects to tax, currency, retirement, inheritance or wider wealth planning.
The earlier these conversations happen, the more room there is to shape the outcome.
Important Information
Skybound Property & Finance is a trading style of Skybound Wealth Management Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Full FCA regulatory details are available at register.fca.org.uk.
Skybound Property & Finance operates across both UK and international regulatory frameworks. Services are provided by the appropriate Skybound group entity or selected partners depending on the client’s location and the nature of the service required. The applicable regulated entity will always be confirmed before any advice is provided.
Property sales and property sourcing services in the UK are provided through selected partner firms and are not directly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Such partners operate under the laws and codes of conduct applicable to UK estate agency and property sourcing activity.
Mortgage and finance advice is subject to client circumstances, lender criteria and applicable regulatory permissions. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
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The guidance and/or advice contained within this website are subject to the UK regulatory regime, and are therefore targeted at consumers based in the UK. Skybound Wealth UK is a trading style of Skybound Wealth Management Ltd who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office - Alum House Suite 12, Discovery Court Business Centre, 551/553 Wallisdown Road, Poole BH12 5AG. Registered Number 04479650, England. Financial Conduct Authority Number 217994.
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