00:00Can I start off by asking your name and where we are today?
00:03My name's Anthony Long and we are in the boardroom at Capital International in Douglas.
00:09Perfect. Obviously you won Business of the Year at the Isle of Man and Water Act since last year.
00:14We did.
00:15What has the business done to keep thriving since then?
00:19The business, it's been a busy year and as with every year we continually strive to reinvent ourselves
00:26so we have completely refreshed our strategic priorities and we're about to launch a new strategy as we move into
00:352027.
00:36So this last four months has been all about where do we go next, what are we going to do,
00:42how are we going to keep ourselves fresh,
00:44how are we going to keep our clients growing and we've spent a lot of time focusing in on what
00:51our key priorities are.
00:53So it's amazing to think that it's been a year almost since the awards and how much has passed and
01:00how much has happened in the last 12 months.
01:02But that's a part of the cycle of the industry that we're in.
01:07It's changing all the time and we have to change and keep going with it.
01:10And how did it feel on the night to sort of hear Capital's name being read out as the business
01:15of the year?
01:15It was fantastic and we had a lot of our team in the audience and the whole vibe was amazing.
01:26Obviously you hope that you're going to win something, you never quite know whether you are.
01:29And it was a big award to be nominated for.
01:33So I was elated because I really didn't think that we were going to win it against the competition that
01:40we were up against.
01:41And so when I heard our name being called out, it was fantastic.
01:49Yeah.
01:49Fantastic.
01:50And what did you think of the night itself? Did you have a good time?
01:53I had a good time. I've been to many so I know how it works. I know how the whole
02:01evening sort of pans out.
02:03But it was a great night. So I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was really good.
02:07So just looking to head to this year's awards, will you be attending this year?
02:11Yes, we are attending this year and we have applied for the Digital Innovation of the Year Award.
02:18We've submitted our application. We've done an awful lot of work over the last 18 months.
02:23Building and developing our client interfaces.
02:29And we've used that case study and that journey to support our submission.
02:36I look forward to seeing how that does and I'm very excited with the work that we've been doing there.
02:40And I'm sure it's going to be another great evening in a few weeks time.
02:45So to people who don't necessarily know what Capital International is all about, can you explain what the business does
02:49on the day today?
02:50Sure. We're complicated. So we've got three core business areas.
02:57We are firstly a bank and we provide corporate and high net worth banking services on a digital platform here
03:05on the Isle of Man.
03:06We're also an asset management business and we manage discretionary assets for a wide range of clients, both here on
03:15the Isle of Man, in Jersey and internationally.
03:19And we are a custodian and platform business where we look after clients' assets on our platform at an execution
03:30only level.
03:31And we provide reporting and infrastructure services to those clients and their advisors in order that they can manage their
03:40assets efficiently and effectively on our systems.
03:44It's Cat International's 30th anniversary this year. How would you look back at the last 30 years?
03:50Like, how would you feel like it's gone, you know, from time to time, from year to year? Has it
03:55been quite steady progress?
03:57No, I don't think that's a word that I would use or a phrase that I would use.
04:02We spent quite a lot of time this year reflecting back on our journey and it's been a long journey.
04:09Firstly, I'm amazed that 30 years has passed.
04:13And when I tell our story and I was talking to our people, our teams last month on our actual
04:22birthday and I realised that a huge number of our people today have joined us in recent years.
04:29And so the early years of the business are not well known by very many.
04:36So I find it amazing that we have been in business for 30 years, that we have grown from four
04:46people to 280 odd people today, that we do all the things that we do, that we service, all the
04:52clients that we service.
04:54And there's so much more that we want to do going forward.
04:57And I find that really invigorating and very, very exciting.
05:02And to be honest, quite humbling really, because we've come a long way over those years and we've done some
05:10great things, but we've had some tough times and we've lived through a very dynamic period in history.
05:19When you think back at all the global situation over the last 30 years, it's phenomenal.
05:27So it's great. It's really exciting.
05:29So you say you've used the anniversary to sort of not only look back, but look at a way of
05:34looking forward as well?
05:36To some extent.
05:39Coincidentally, our strategic cycle turns this year.
05:43So we knew that we were going to be refreshing our strategy.
05:51Fundamentally, nothing's particularly changed, but some of our emphasis is evolving.
05:55So, yes, to that extent, we're moving forward and looking forward.
06:02We have spent a lot of time reflecting back over the last 30 years, the people, our clients and so
06:11on.
06:11And we spent a lot of time focusing in on our sustainability work and our conscious capital work, as we
06:18as we call it.
06:20And most of our celebrations have actually been with our local partners and our charitable activities.
06:29And we've wanted to get more deeply involved in that.
06:32So we've been running 30 by 30.
06:35We've been supporting 30 charities in our 30th anniversary.
06:38And that's been fantastic.
06:40We've been able to get our people involved in some really important work.
06:44And it's been great to link the two together.
06:50And that's kind of who we are, really.
06:53Has there been any special events for the anniversary?
06:56Only relatively low-key ones.
06:58We've got some...
07:01I suppose the biggest event for us this year actually was the opening of this building.
07:06So we did a big refurbishment project over the last two years.
07:09And we've used our 30th anniversary to showcase the facilities that we've built here.
07:15And we've had a number of relatively low-key and modest client events in the building here, which have worked
07:22and gone down really well.
07:23We've done a bit of celebrating with our people.
07:27We've got a big Christmas party coming up in a month or so's time.
07:30And that's going to be our major event to mark our anniversary.
07:36And as I say, we've been continuing to work with all our sustainability partners.
07:41And that's not really been...
07:44We haven't been popping the champagne, but we have been marking the occasion and really pushing out with the things
07:50that are important to us.
