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Dynamite comes in small packages and, despite being capable of a rather loud explosion, so does plastic explosives. The latter I discovered by default thanks to a recent visit to the island of Cyprus where I was privileged enough to spend a few days with soldiers from Britain's Territorial Army, enjoying the thrill, and blood curdling fear, of setting off my own munition MacGyver style, joining patrols on the UN buffer zone and sampling an army meal, which all made for a huge change from the daily London office life of suits, PCs and business cards.

So how did a financial journalist who is supposed to specialise in the volatile world of mortgages, pensions and retail investment products find herself on an island in the Mediterranean surrounded by people dressed in camouflage, learning more about the very intricate art of clearing an area of live unexploded munitions, I hear you ask?

My mission was simple: to meet the commanding officer heading up the 101 Engineer Regiment, the UK's reserve bomb disposal regiment, who at the time was completing his last days in the position. Why? Well, besides the fact that lieutenant colonel Terry Smith had been heading up one of the crucial cogs in Britain's reserve land forces for the past two years he is also one of HSBC's most successful premier regional managers overseeing the management of all the bank's financial advisers operating in the east London region.

An Irishman in bone marrow, accent and, moreover, humour, the colonel is not only responsible for the financial advisers of 14 regions and 85 branches of HSBC, his involvement with the TA has regularly seen him swopping his office civvies for combat kit. In fact, he first became involved with the military at the tender age of 12 as a cadet in school and later going on to join the Officer Training Corps at Dundee University, where he studied towards a PhD. Once he had attained the celebrated title of doctor and finished his studies, he decided to join the TA and 23 years later he is still a loyal member of the force.

Mr Smith's military interest was triggered by his father's involvement in the Royal Navy and his great uncle, who was part of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army which was formed in 1881. The regiment saw service in the South African War, the First World War and the Second World War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968. His great uncle, who as part of the 10th battalion of the regiment was killed on 1 July 1916 in the Battle of Somme, among the largest battles of the First World War.

His ancestral roots and Northern Ireland background instilled in Mr Smith a dedication to the military which has spanned close to 30 years and as he travels the globe, contributing to the training of TA troops and helping to heal previous conflict zones such as Cyprus from its post war scars, such as the vast areas of unexploded munitions. He did,however, admit that it has been his long-standing girlfriend and loyal cat, Sweep, who have suffered most.

Despite his steady climb through the military ranks, his road to becoming a financial adviser and one of HSBC's regional premier managers he puts down much more to chance than astute military planning. Completing his PhD in chemistry, he decided to take off a few months to travel to Asia, assured in the knowledge that he had his first job lined up with British Nuclear Fuels. However, when he returned after three-and-a-half months abroad he was told that his contract with the company had been scrapped due to redundancies being made.

He said: "I needed a quick solution and had to find a job fast so I joined Axa Equity & Law, where I started working as a financial consultant. I was involved in direct sales and had to deal with the queues and queries."

Despite starting out in the hostile environment of direct sales and having what he calls a baptism of fire into financial services, Mr Smith was dead set on developing a career in a leadership position and in 1995 moved to the then Midland Bank, which was later incorporated into HSBC. Here he worked as a financial planning manager, eventually overseeing four branches and serving customers in the area of protection and savings.

After four years, he was appointed to the position of junior sales manager and later promoted to area sales manager, becoming the regional premier manager of the east London area last year. Mr Smith explained that despite the credit crunch eating into the business of many banks, things have looked much brighter at HSBC than elswhere. He said: "We have always been a prudent lender, basing our products on affordability and hence have been much less affected by the interbanking rate." He said that despite the difficult economic times, the bank has been in a secure enough position that they have been able to take make good work of the opportunities created by the credit crunch.

It is with the same optimism and energy that he heads up his responsibilites in HSBC that Mr Smith has concluded a successful two-year period heading up the only London regiment of the TA. Under his command, he managed in excess of 60 people and by working closely with Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers - ministry of Defence campaign which aims to build support for members of the Volunteer Reserve Forces from their employers - he has tried to make those in the work place more aware of the contribution of these soldiers in making the world a safer place, and not least giving the regular forces extra resources at times of increased operational demand. Members of the Volunteer Reserve Forces have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, helped in the rebuilding of Iraq and, under the leadership of Mr Smith, cleared an island off Guernsey which used to be the practise ground of the Germans in the Second World War of 111 pieces of live ordinance. In Cyprus the soldiers where doing similar work as well as working for the UN by helping to patrol the bufferzone or so-called 'green line' and learning the complexities of peace keeping.

So does Mr Smith apply the same military "command down" style in the boardroom as he does on the battlefield? "Not necessarily," he said, while at the same time recognising that in the last few years Britain has come to crossroads when it comes to leadership style in the work place, with the City seeing the military school of thought come head-to-head with the MBA school of thought. He said: "There is nothing wrong with the military style of command as long as it is applied in the right way. It is a more empowering style than people imagine it to be. There is a thing called 'mission command' where you tell people what you need them to do, but not how to do it, ensuring they have the freedom and knowledge to complete the task and if they are not clear on the direction then they can always come back and ask. It is a very delegatory style of management, even though from the outside people might not think it is or appreciate that it is."

Mr Smith also added that the leadership skills he has acquired in heading up the TA regiment has come in useful in his nine to five job of managing financial advisers in London. He said: "On these military operations you learn how to manage and motivate people under a wide variety of circumstances. You have to lead people and get them to perform when they are cold, wet, tired and hungry, and get them to focus."

Despite attainting skills which have proven useful in the boardroom, Mr Smith admitted that his true attraction to the military lies in the challenges it poses. It is this hunger for a challenge that has seen him scale Kilimanjaro, make his way to base camp on Mount Everest, obtain his private pilot's licence and conquer a range of other extreme activities which one does not normally expect from a suit and tied financial adviser.

Bringing new meaning to the cliche that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going, Mr Smith cross-subsidises the leadership and conflict management skills he has aquired in his career in the defence forces and his experience in the financial services industry. Whether it be Iraq, Afghanistan, bomb disposal or simply taking the credit crunch by the horns, here is someone who certainly has the training and the stomach for a challenge.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Jan 1994 to July 1995: Financial Planning Consultant, Axa Equity and Law.

1995 to 1999: Financial Planning Manager, Midland Bank

1999 to 2001: Sales Manager, HSBC

2001 to 2002: Area Sales Manager, Uxbridge Area, HSBC

2002 to 2007: Area Financial Services Manager, North London HSBC

2007 to present Regional Premier Manager, East London, HSBC

Feb 2006 to Aug 2008 Commanding Officer 101 Engineer Regiment (EOD) (V), the UK's Reserve Bomb Disposal Regiment.

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