However, while it’s prudent to keep a constant lookout, there are developers, SMEs and entrepreneurs finding and unlocking opportunities across many sectors of UK industry and UTB is committed to supporting them. As the saying goes: “A ship in harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.”

Throughout last year, UTB continued to invest and grow, increasing our lending and recruiting in all areas of the bank. We have taken yet more new space in our Moorgate offices, we have also recruited a number of experienced and well-known professionals from the mortgage sector and now have bigger sales teams to serve more brokers across Great Britain than we have ever done before.

We have also taken the first steps of launching a new business in the consumer motor finance sector, welcoming experienced new people to the UTB team and opening our first satellite office in Bolton to house the new operation. There will be more to say about that very soon.

We continue to invest in technology and systems which will enable us to keep developing our lending and deposits businesses, providing intuitive online services where they can add value to our proposition.

Personal service remains at the heart of what we do, and technology applied properly can help us to be more efficient and accessible, giving us more time to spend on the really important things, such as forming, building and maintaining our broker relationships and applying personal expertise to our underwriting and decision making.

The issue of Brexit hangs over the UK economy like a large, grey cloud, but there are people and businesses who aren’t sitting back and waiting to see what happens after 29th March.

At UTB, we have the great pleasure of working with customers, brokers and staff who – accepting that uncertainty is likely to remain the only constant for some time to come – have decided not to let that be a reason to stop investing in, planning, building, encouraging and supporting all manner of ventures, developments and projects across Great Britain.

What unites them is their willingness to trust their own judgement, to be flexible and adaptable to change and to embrace the notion that good things don’t always come to those who wait. That, in fact, good things tend to come to those who go out and find them, whatever the weather.