December 2019 Issue
Paul Adams: A great reason to pick up the phone
Market 15 Dec 2019Paul Adams is sales director at Pepper Money Christmas can be the most wonderful, and expensive, time of the year. So,... Read more
Buy-to-Let 15 Dec 2019
Ken Hale: Holiday lets – a growing opportunity
Ken Hale is head of lending at Harpenden Building Society
As sterling continues to come under pressure, and speculation rises about...
Market 15 Dec 2019
Peter Izard: The surprising opportunity in HNW remortgages
Peter Izard is business development manager at Investec Private Bank
How are you planning to achieve your targets next year
Planning can...
Stuart Miller: It turns out size really does matter
15 Dec 2019
Stuart Miller is customer director at Newcastle Building Society
As a smaller lender than some, we have both advantages and disadvantages....
Craig Calder: The wonderful world of mortgages
15 Dec 2019
Craig Calder is director of intermediaries at Barclays Mortgages
As 2019 comes to a close, it’s not unreasonable to say that...
Robert Sinclair: Cultural awareness
13 Dec 2019
Robert Sinclair is chief executive at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI)
As a responsible trade body, AMI has always wanted...
Steve Ellis: All in our debt
18 Nov 2019
Steve Ellis is head of risk and protection at Premier Choice Group
We are all in the business of debt –...
Protection
18 Nov 2019
Jeff Woods: Appreciating where advisers add value
Jeff Woods is campaigns and propositions director at Sesame Bankhall Group
Over recent months we’ve been undertaking a large-scale insight project to gauge our understanding of the protection market from different...
Protection
18 Nov 2019
Andy Philo: Now’s the time to discuss IP
Andy Philo is director strategic partnerships and employee distribution at Vitality
It’s still assumed that term life insurance comes top in the hierarchy of protection needs.
While a homeowner’s life insurance pay...
General Insurance
18 Nov 2019
Charlotte Harrison: From the mediaeval reformation to protection
Charlotte Harrison is product manager at iPipeline
Like most history graduates I knew straightaway that insurance was the only industry I wanted to work in. It was a no brainer to...
Protection
18 Nov 2019
Kevin Carr: Getting in early
Kevin Carr is chief executive of Protection Review and managing director of Carr Consulting & Communications
With mental health underwriting becoming ever more topical it’s great to see insurers announcing new...
Buy-to-Let 18 Nov 2019
Jane Simpson: Buy-to-let innovations
Jane Simpson is managing director at TBMC
The buy-to-let mortgage market has come under pressure in recent years due to the multitude of tax and regulatory changes aimed at the sector.
However, lenders are demonstrating their willingness...
Buy-to-Let
18 Nov 2019
Ying Tan: Tracking the trends for buy-to-let
Ying Tan is founder and chief executive at Dynamo
Last month I looked at how the value attached to the advice process should never be underestimated. This was alongside the importance...
Buy-to-Let
18 Nov 2019
Bob Young: There is more to a decision than rates
Bob Young is chief executive officer at Fleet Mortgages
In our market there can be a tendency to put the cart before the horse, especially when it comes to analysing and...
Buy-to-Let
18 Nov 2019
Alan Cleary: Lies, damn lies and statistics
Alan Cleary is group managing director at Precise Mortgages
I always tend to take stories which contain statistics with a big pinch of salt. I’ve been around long enough to know...
Buy-to-Let
18 Nov 2019
Jeff Knight: The buy-to-let market is a mixed bag for now
Jeff Knight is director of marketing at Foundation Home Loans
We’re all acutely aware of the uncertainty that exists within political circles and the UK economy.
This means that buy-to-let lenders are...
Buy-to-Let
18 Nov 2019
Chris Maggs: A brighter future for buy-to-let
Chris Maggs is senior commercial manager at Accord Buy To Let
After what feels like many months of negative press on the buy-to-let market, the most recent lending figures from UK...
Education
18 Nov 2019
Michael Nicholls: Preparing for regulatory changes from the FCA
Michael Nicholls is relationship director at LIBF
The FCA Consultation on mortgage advice and selling standards (CP19/17) has just closed, after May’s report highlighting some key aspects of the current mortgage...
Market
18 Nov 2019
Robin Johnson: Why the sum of the parts matter to customers
Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward Professional Services
In a property market that presents as many opportunities and challenges as the current one, I am constantly being...
Adverse
18 Nov 2019
Paul Adams: There are 1.26 million reasons to read this article
Paul Adams is sales director at Pepper Money
The mortgage market is awash with high level data about the number of CCJs and defaults that are helping to drive the growth...
Expats
18 Nov 2019
Anita Arch: Expats on the move
Anita Arch is head of mortgage sales at Saffron Building Society
Over the past five years, the UK news has focussed on the number of people coming here to live from...
Market
18 Nov 2019
Stuart Miller: All together now for the good of everyone
Stuart Miller is customer director at Newcastle Building Society
I recently read a blog by Capital Economics’ group chief economist, Neil Shearing, arguing that globalisation has ‘peaked’.
He argued that ‘there is...
18 Nov 2019
Craig Calder: Maintaining first-time buyer sector momentum
Craig Calder is director of intermediaries at Barclays Mortgages
In last month’s piece I focused on how important good quality professional advice is, in terms of offering access to the right...
AMI
18 Nov 2019
Robert Sinclair: Goldilocks forgets the porridge
Robert Sinclair is chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries
After a process as long as Brexit, the FCA has finally coughed up its new affordability rules to deal with...
AMI
18 Nov 2019
Robert Sinclair: SM&CR is now upon us
Robert Sinclair is chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries
Remember, remember the 9th of December. This is, or was depending on when you read this, the magic date when...
AMI
9 Oct 2019
Robert Sinclair: The bigger ticking bombs
Robert Sinclair is chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries
The market appears stable, with forecasts suggesting that transactions will reach 1.2 million in 2019, in line with the long-term...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Ying Tan: Don’t underestimate the value of advice
Ying Tan is chief executive of Dynamo
We’re all at the coalface of the advice process and used to seeking answers to some difficult questions – whether these are from clients,...
Protection
9 Oct 2019
Mike Allison: Firms go extra mile on mental health
Mike Allison is head of protection at Paradigm Mortgage Services
There has been much discussion recently about access to insurance for people with mental health difficulties and there is still a...
Protection
9 Oct 2019
Andy Philo: Should mortgage protection be mandatory?
Andy Philo is director strategic partnerships and employee distribution at Vitality
There’s a long-running debate about whether it should be compulsory for people to buy protection when taking out a mortgage....
Equity Release
9 Oct 2019
Steve Ellis: Helping out family safely
Steve Ellis is head of risk and protection at Premier Choice Group
The difficulties young people are facing getting on the housing market ladder are well documented.
The disparity between earnings...
Equity Release
9 Oct 2019
Claire Barker: The risks of Retirement Interest-Only
Claire Barker is managing director of Equilaw
At the National Later Life Adviser Conference in June, former FCA mortgage policy manager, Lynda Blackwell questioned the residential approach that the regulator had...
Equity Release
9 Oct 2019
Alice Watson: Supporting advisers is key to growth
Alice Watson is head of marketing and communications at Canada Life Home Finance
Whether it’s relationships, a job offer or selecting the right home finance product, expert and trusted advice helps...
General Insurance
9 Oct 2019
Geoff Hall: Objects of desire
Geoff Hall is chairman of Berkeley Alexander
It is important to keep jewellery valuations on GI policies up to date. Diamond prices in particular saw spikes between 2005 and 2010 and...
General Insurance
9 Oct 2019
Rob Evans: Now is the time to future-proof your business
Rob Evans is CEO of Paymentshield
How do you choose the right GI partner to work with Traditionally, the key considerations have been risk footprint, breadth of cover, the number and quality...
General Insurance
9 Oct 2019
Paul Thompson: Should brokers subscribe to the subscription model?
Paul Thompson founder and CEO of Cavere Intermediary
I’ll admit I was sceptical when the first subscription insurance product launched last year. If I’m honest I struggled to see how it...
Adverse
9 Oct 2019
Paul Adams: Laying the foundations to your new opportunity
Paul Adams is sales director at Pepper Money
How much do we know and understand about the changing trends and demographics of your potential clients and why is this important to...
Protection
9 Oct 2019
Charlotte Harrison: Unlocking protection potential
Charlotte Harrison is product manager at iPipeline
I was recently shown an advert online for a homemade canoe. The description read: ‘I built this canoe in 2009 using marine ply, tape...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Bob Young: Labour’s plans could open a can of worms
Bob Young is chief executive officer of Fleet Mortgages
The political situation is moving so quickly that it seems slightly pointless to speculate on the policies and measures that have been...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Jane Simpson: Limited company buy-to-let on the rise
Jane Simpson is managing director at TBMC
At TBMC, we have seen a significant rise in the number of limited company buy-to-let applications being submitted.
Since the beginning of 2019, over 25%...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Kevin Webb: Cladding is a problem for everyone
Kevin Webb is managing director of Legal & General Surveying Services
It is more than two years since the tragedy at Grenfell, and still there is a huge amount of confusion...
Market
9 Oct 2019
Stuart Miller: We all need to do more for our intermediaries
Stuart Miller is customer director at Newcastle Building Society
Earlier this month we welcomed John Truswell as our new head of intermediary mortgages.
John has more than 30 years’ experience in...
Technology
9 Oct 2019
Kevin Paterson: Cause versus effect
Kevin Paterson
As a British Gas customer and keen technology enthusiast, I have been an enthusiastic adopter of the Hive smart home platform created by Centrica, the parent company of British...
Conveyancing
9 Oct 2019
David Gilman: Getting the simple things right
David Gilman is partner in charge, Blacks Connect
It is customary when judging the relative merits or deficiencies of modern conveyancing practices, or of evaluating standards of service within the industry,...
Conveyancing
9 Oct 2019
Mark Snape: Now isn’t the time to rest on your laurels
Mark Snape is managing director of Broker Conveyancing
Over a decade on from the Credit Crunch, it’s clear to see that we are a long way down the road from that...
Technology
9 Oct 2019
Steve Goodall: Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law
Steve Goodall is chief executive at ULS Technology
According to UK Finance, last year the advanced security systems and innovations in which the finance industry invests to protect customers stopped more...
Market
9 Oct 2019
Simon Taylor: Adapting to the latest market challenges
Simon Taylor is chief commercial officer at Saffron Building Society
Saffron Building Society celebrates its 170th birthday this year.
At the start of the year, our chief executive Colin Field talked...
Education
9 Oct 2019
Michael Nicholls: Should smaller firms pool their resources?
Michael Nicholls is relationship director at LIBF
The recent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Consultation on mortgage advice and selling standards appeared to roll back on its own 2014 regulations.
One of...
Market
9 Oct 2019
John Phillips: The B-word is still impacting activity
John Phillips is national operations director at Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart
The latest UK Finance Mortgage Trends Report revealed that, after propping up the market for some time, remortgaging fell for...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Jeff Knight: Learning from the changes
Jeff Knight is director of marketing of Foundation Home Loans
In order to look forward, it’s also prudent to sometimes look back.
Understanding how the buy-to-let sector has been reshaped and...
Market
9 Oct 2019
Robin Johnson: Delivering value is more important than ever
Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward Professional Services
All businesses know that establishing strong, long relationships with their clients is good for the bottom line.
It doesn’t matter...
Market
9 Oct 2019
Craig Calder: Consumers need brokers more than ever
Craig Calder is director of intermediaries at Barclays Mortgages
We talk a lot in the industry about how the mortgage market has evolved though tech advances, product innovation and criteria enhancements...
Buy-to-Let
9 Oct 2019
Alan Cleary: The continued rise of portfolio buy-to-let
Alan Cleary is managing director of Precise Mortgages
It doesn’t surprise me to read that, for the first time, more than half of lenders are now offering limited company buy-to-let...
Buy-to-Let
8 Oct 2019
Chris Maggs: A brighter future for buy-to-let
Chris Maggs is senior commercial manager at Accord Buy To Let
After what feels like many months of negative press on the buy-to-let market, the most recent lending figures from UK...