Our highly trained, multilingual team work with our clients through every stage of the process to find the most suitable mortgage product, wether you are looking to purchase in France, Spain, Portugal or elsewhere

IPF Team
Fiona Watts, CeMAP Level 3

Founder & Managing Director

The driving force of IPF, Fiona knows more about broking international mortgages than anyone else in the industry. She is fluent in Spanish, passionate about female entrepreneurship, and allergic to cheese - no one is perfect!

Simon Smallwood

Director & Co-founder

After co-founding the company in 2008 and focusing on our business partnerships and marketing, Simon now advises on all areas of strategy. Outside of IPF, he will be found on the tennis court, golf range, sailing, or watching his beloved Southampton F.C.

Jocelyn Lawson

Operations Manager

IPF’s resident jack-of-all-trades from IT and Marketing to HR and Accounts, Jocelyn supports the team and the Directors, so they can focus on our clients and partners. After 16 years in sales & marketing, and a couple more looking after her young family, Jocelyn keeps the office functioning. Our resident wine expert, and keen golfer - we’d be lost without her (and our office socials wouldn’t be half as fun!)

Georgia Hill

Team Administrator

Georgia is likely to be the first person you speak to at IPF, calmly holding the fort whilst juggling new enquiries and submitting paperwork with consumate ease. She's the oil that keeps the IPF machine running like clockwork. We'd all be a bit lost without her!

Nathalie Hilton

Bank Relationship Manager

Nathalie grew up in the French Alps and moved to the UK 25 years ago to complete a double diploma in International Sales & Marketing. She fell in love with the London lifestyle and has been living in our beautiful city ever since. Having worked for French Property Developers and Estate Agencies, she brought a wealth of experience to IPF when she joined11 years ago. Having been Head of Partnerships she is currently working as our Bank Relationship Manager, looking after our panel of lenders throughout France and further developing it, regularly adding new finance solutions for non resident buyers, with retails banks at local, regional and national levels as well as private banks around Europe. Nathalie has an extremely positive attitude, a proactive and value driven approach which means that she connects with people beautifully, and is a tremendous asset to the team. When she is not talking about property or mortgages, Nathalie dedicates her time to her other passions – tea (she has become very British), wine and travel.

Natalie Knibbs

International Mortgage Advisor

A lover of all things French, Natalie joined the IPF team in April 2022 and is one of our dual qualified, bilingual Mortgage Consultants. Having studied and lived in France for 13 years Natalie brings experience and understanding of the French property sector gained from working in the building industry, specifically in the renovation sector for luxury properties along the Côte d'Azur. In 2011 she returned to the UK to raise her family.

Sally Eichmuller de Souza

International Mortgage Assistant

After graduating with a degree in International Business and French, Sally worked in financial executive search in London for many years before taking time out of her career to look after family. She joined IPF in 2022 bringing with her first hand experience of buying a property in France, making her ideally suited to helping our clients navigate the process! She is passionate about France and enjoys spending as much time there as possible.

What our clients say

If you have been contemplating working with IPF my advice is to just do it!
15 Aug 2022 - Anonymous - Paris

"It has been a dream of mine for a long while to obtain my own apartment in Paris. After being told countless times this is not possible as a UK citizen, I reached out to IPF. I had the pleasure working with Ellie Butler who is an incredible and meticulous person. She was able to successfully find a mortgage which met my needs. She is professional, diligent, reassuring and worked incredibly hard to overcome obstacles that came our way. I was supported every step of the way- she was always available, even during her non-standard working hours. I couldn’t thank her enough and the overall support and professionalism experienced from IPF was outstanding. I have already recommended Ellie to several people who also have an interest in purchasing a property abroad. I think the package they offer is worth it! If you have been contemplating working with IPF my advice is to just do it!"

The project was not always easy, but she calmly encouraged and dealt with all the problems that arose along the way.
15 Aug 2022 - Tiffany and Richard Johnson - Normandy

"I really recommend International Private Finance when buying a house in France. Our adviser guided us through the whole process of buying a property with huge understanding and knowledge. The project was not always easy, but she calmly encouraged and dealt with all the problems that arose along the way. She was incredibly organized, but also showed huge empathy when we were struggling with the process. She was always quick to get in contact and tackle issues. Her advice and help were absolutely invaluable and we could not have managed it on our own without having a nervous breakdown! It is a very life changing and stressful journey to go on and we had huge faith in our adviser at all times, which she more than lived up to. She also dealt with the notaire and agents with a very efficient manner and they were also impressed with her professionalism. We are now in the house, very excited about living in France and hugely grateful for all the assistance."

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