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October 2021 Issue

trussle deposits value mortgage

Finance should deliver more

21 Sep 2021
Stuart Miller is customer director of Newcastle Building Society Purpose has always been at the heart of business for building societies....
hire advisers

Being biased is natural

21 Sep 2021
Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search Inclusive leadership is a process of bridge-building. As an organisation develops more managerial levels,...
new-build

Self-build, the choice is yours

21 Sep 2021
Graeme Aitken is business development manager at Harpenden Building Society For recent generations, choice has become far more commonplace. Whether it’s...
London 21 Sep 2021

Property markets are nuanced

Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward Professional Services Inflation generally receives a negative press. It is an economic measure, but also an important political tool. Indeed, the...
remortgage instructions
Networks 21 Sep 2021

Let customers know you have their back

Shaun Almond is managing director of HL Partnership Product transfer business is predicted to be worth £181bn in 2021, with over £220bn predicted for 2022. Somewhere in those figures are likely...
financial resilience
Market 21 Sep 2021

Resilience should see out the year

Steve Goodall is managing director of e.surv What a year for the UK’s housing market so far. The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed UK house...
platform digital
Technology 19 Aug 2021

Don’t just follow the well-trodden ground

Steve Carruthers is head of business development at Iress The impact that technology solutions are having on financial services firms is nothing short of breath-taking. However, every decision comes with compromises and demands detailed understanding if...

Top Stories

19 Aug 2021

Second homes as holiday lets

Peter Izard is business development manager of Investec Private Bank With many buyers now seeking the benefit of a rural retreat alongside their urban primary residence, demand for second properties has...
Recruitment 19 Aug 2021

The rise of the telephone BDM

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search Mortgage intermediary sales channels are undoubtedly evolving, and the use of digital and telephony services in support of field-based, external account managers is going...
Digital 19 Aug 2021

Every captain needs a navigator

Tim Hague is director of Sagis   July was a busy month for mortgage deals, and I’m not talking about approval numbers. Trussle, the online mortgage broker backed by Goldman Sachs, among...
new-build
20 Jul 2021

Gearing is your friend

Roxana Mohammadian-Molina is chief strategy officer of Blend Network Over the past decade, a new generation of specialist development finance lenders have emerged that have sped up and simplified the borrowing...
High Net Worth 20 Jul 2021

Why HNW mortgage cases are unique

Peter Izard is business development manager of Investec Private Bank When working on a mortgage case for a high net worth (HNW) individual, there are various considerations that brokers must take...
btl
Buy-to-Let 20 Jul 2021

Cheaper to rent than buy?

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC It was interesting to read about the recent report by the estate agents Hamptons, which indicated that in the UK it is currently cheaper...
Technology 20 Jul 2021

The evolving nature of efficiency

Steve Carruthers is principal mortgage consultant of Iress We passed the end of Q1 and, astonishing as it may seem, are nearly through H1. These have been good months for mortgage...
Recruitment 20 Jul 2021

The future of working practices

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search There was a time when the boundaries between work and home were fairly clear; however, the pivot required by firms as a result of...
London 20 Jul 2021

This run will continue

Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward Professional Services People are moving, and that’s not about to change any time soon. By the time you read this, we’ll...
cladding
Surveying 15 Jun 2021

Solutions from surveyors and lenders

Steve Goodall is managing director of e.surv When tragedy occurs, it is not always clear how best to proceed, but a thorough understanding of the scale and scope of the problem...
Photo: RickDeacon / Shutterstock.com
Buy-to-Let 15 Jun 2021

Buy-to-let buoyancy

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC There has been plenty of positive movement in the buy-to-let (BTL) sector in recent months, which has been supported by numerous reports and surveys...
High Net Worth 15 Jun 2021

When is self-build not self-build?

Peter Izard is intermediary business development of Investec Private Bank Lockdown has led to many people re-evaluating what they look for from their home. A growing number are considering refurbishment and...
diversity
Recruitment 15 Jun 2021

Diversity values in work culture

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search There is an inherent challenge for the sector when it comes to increasing the representation of people of colour. Why Because whilst data is...
London 15 Jun 2021

Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring

Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward Professional Services I never fail to be gently amused by the wild ups and downs in house price predictions that are...
build construction
Market 15 Jun 2021

Building back differently

Tim Hague is director of Sagis The rather wet month of May may well have been notable for the record breaking amounts of water that descended from the heavens, but even...
18 May 2021

Specialist lending and the staycation boom

Adrian Moloney is group sales director of InterBay Commercial What do Torquay, Windermere, York, Newquay and Bath all have in common Sure, they’re all very nice places – some have beaches, others...
Conveyancing 17 May 2021

The time to deliver

Mark Snape is chief executive officer of Broker Conveyancing The old adage about ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ was brought home to me recently when reviewing some data around the number...
Protection 17 May 2021

Protecting the sandwich generation

Ross Liston is managing director, distribution of Sesame Bankhall Group Estimates suggest there are at least one million Britons who are financially responsible for both their younger and older family members....
Buy-to-Let 17 May 2021

Going green in buy-to-let

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC In recent years, the environmental issues affecting our planet have taken central stage in the media, and many people have become increasingly concerned with...
Lending 17 May 2021

The lenders’ dilemma

Tony Marshall is managing director of Equifinance Underwriting has always been a balancing act between the application of lending criteria and the importance attached to customers’ circumstances, their history, and how...
Technology 17 May 2021

The technological balancing act

David Lownds is head of marketing and business development of Hanley Economic Building Society  In the midst of massive internal and external tech overhaul, it’s fair to say that our eyes...
High Net Worth 17 May 2021

The need for speed in 2021

Peter Izard is business development manager at Investec Private Bank Buying a new home can be an exciting journey, but we all know the process doesn’t come without its challenges. As...
London 17 May 2021

Things change and things stay the same

Robin Johnson is managing director, Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward Professional Services Until recently, I rather felt as though I’d been living the same day over and over again for the past...
Market 17 May 2021

A new type of mortgage prisoner

Tim Hague is managing partner at Sagis You might think that IR35 sounds like a dull detail that affects only a small number of self-employed contractors, but it’s actually a really...
Market 17 May 2021

How was it for you?

Martin Reynolds is CEO of SimplyBiz Mortgages How were the first four months of the year for you I am never surprised by the resilience of our market, and how advisers...
Surveying 16 Apr 2021

New survey standards offer opportunity

Karen Rodrigues is sales director of eConveyancer Buyers have a host of additional costs to consider, besides the money they are paying for the property itself. But there are few outlays...
Protection 16 Apr 2021

Research to support recommendations

Neil McCarthy is chief commercial officer of LifeQuote You could argue that critical illness (CI) and income protection (IP) products have become more complex over the years, as insurers have developed...
Buy-to-Let 16 Apr 2021

A new chapter for buy-to-let

Bob Young is chief executive officer of Fleet Mortgages Spend any time within the buy-to-let (BTL) market or private rental sector (PRS) and you’ll soon learn there is always an underlying...
16 Apr 2021

No ‘no platforming’ for second charge

Tony Marshall is managing director of Equifinance The remortgage versus second charge debate continues to divide opinion. Fortunately, it is still relatively civilised. Cancel culture and Twitter extremists have not yet...
Recruitment 16 Apr 2021

Awake (woke) or asleep

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has pledged to get tough on firms that fail to have diverse management teams, but admits that it has...
Market 16 Apr 2021

#FSCSFairForAll

Martin Reynolds is CEO of SimplyBiz Mortgages This month I want to pick up on a debate that has been discussed many times over the years. Whilst the issue was improved...
Fund Finance 22 Mar 2021

Ben Barbanel is head of debt finance at OakNorth Bank Fund finance is set to play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of COVID-19, enabling property investors to weather these...
Buy-to-Let 22 Mar 2021

Start the protection conversation

Alisa Wallington is senior product manager at iPipeline Internet shopping – if you had not fully embraced it before the pandemic, you and millions of others almost certainly will have done...
Buy-to-Let 22 Mar 2021

The PRS sustainability puzzle

Richard Rowntree is managing director of mortgages at Paragon Passed in 2008 by an overwhelming majority across all political parties, The Climate Change Act sets out the UK’s commitment to reducing...
Lending 22 Mar 2021

Understanding your digital eco-system

Tim Hague is director at Sagis T he word ‘ecosystem’ has been appropriated into our digital lexicon to encompass not only the solutions we build and employ for our own organisations, but...
Recruitment 22 Mar 2021

Inclusivity and cultural fit

Pete Gwilliam is director at Virtus Search The culture of a business is made up of the shared values, attitudes, behaviors and life experiences of its employees. Culture is especially influenced...
London 22 Mar 2021

A good time for capital investment

Robin Johnson is managing director at Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward Professional Services While I am writing this before the Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers his 2021 Budget on 3 March, you will...
Products 18 Feb 2021

Products and processes post-COVID

Tim Hague is managing partner of Sagis For most of the past year, 2021 was the great white hope on the horizon. A vaccine was forthcoming, lockdowns would be over and...
Buy-to-Let 18 Feb 2021

HMO customers and Article 4

Adrian Moloney is sales director of OneSavings Bank Group    You’d have to have been living under a rock for the past few years not to be aware of the huge...
Buy-to-Let 18 Feb 2021

The impact of Brexit on the PRS

Richard Rowntree is managing director of mortgages, Paragon Before Brexit was ousted by COVID-19 as the main news item, it dominated our headlines for a number of years. Finally, we now...
Protection 18 Feb 2021

Make protection a part of refinancing

Jeff Woods is campaigns and propositions director of Sesame Bankhall Group Refinancing, whether through a remortgage or product transfer, is likely to make up a significant proportion of business for mortgage...
Technology 17 Feb 2021

New lockdown, same threats

John Dobson is chief executive of SmartSearch  It all feels tediously familiar: hours of working from home, while homeschooling for many, and every day a round of video calls and remote...
platform digital
Technology 17 Feb 2021

Appropriate intelligence in 2021

Steve Carruthers is principal mortgage consultant of Iress Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzz-phrase for years; a holy grail where machines alleviate us of the mundane tasks and begin to...
Conveyancing 16 Feb 2021

Addressing remortgage fears

Karen Rodrigues is sales director at eConveyancer We are just a few weeks into the new year, and many people will start to feel their motivation to keep up with resolutions...
Equity Release 20 Jan 2021

Ready to roar back

Andrea Rozario, chief corporate officer of Bower    Shall we call 2020 a write-off I had high hopes for the ‘Roaring Twenties’ part two, but I think by March everyone knew...
Buy-to-Let 20 Jan 2021

The value of buy-to-let

Richard Rowntree is managing director mortgages of Paragon Bank Despite the pandemic’s emergence in 2019, it is 2020 that will go down in history as the year changed by coronavirus. I’m...
20 Jan 2021

2021 and the challenges ahead

Stuart Miller is customer director of Newcastle Building Society The world has been through one of the worst crises of this century, and is now beginning to pick up the pieces...
20 Jan 2021

An introduction to introductions

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search Whether you are applying for jobs or speculatively introducing yourself to an employer that interests you, a cover letter can be the determining factor...
14 Dec 2020

Money laundering and property

John Dobson is CEO at SmartSearch For most people, the phrase ‘money laundering’ probably brings to mind Hollywood gangster films. But the truth is it is a widespread problem that is...
Protection 14 Dec 2020

Are you OK?

Jeff Woods is campaigns and propositions director at Sesame Bankhall Group Mental health is an important topic of conversation, and rightly so. It has been growing in prominence for some time,...
Service 14 Dec 2020

A clear purpose will guide us through

Stuart Miller is customer director at Newcastle Building Society While there has been much tragedy and hardship in the wake of an ongoing health crisis, such disasters do often have the...
Buy-to-Let 14 Dec 2020

Stamp duty cliff edge

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC The stamp duty holiday announced in July for properties up to £500,000 in England provided a welcome boost to the housing market, allowing it...
19 Nov 2020

Shaun Almond: The wrong question?

Shaun Almond is managing director of HL Partnership At what point do you tell customers that they have little or no chance of getting their purchase completed before the end of...
Buy-to-Let 18 Nov 2020

Jane Simpson: Technology trumps

Jane Simpson is managing director at TBMC A month is a long time in the buy-to-let mortgage market, although COVID-19 has added a certain feeling of Groundhog Day to our lives,...
18 Nov 2020

Tony Marshall: The second charge revival

Tony Marshall is managing director of Equifinance To say that this has been a testing period for the second charge sector, as well as the whole lending market, would be an...
19 Oct 2020

Pete Gwilliam: The growing need for support

Pete Gwilliam is director of Virtus Search It has been pleasing to see that in a number of instances within the mortgage sector, individuals have returned to full-time roles following periods...
Robert Sinclair AMI
AMI 15 Oct 2020

Robert Sinclair: Fighting for justice

Robert Sinclair is chief executive officer of AMI In October I spent an hour creating a podcast with the UK Mortgage Prisoners Action Group. What this brought home to me was...
15 Oct 2020

Jane Simpson: Successful sourcing in buy-to-let

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC Being able to accurately source buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages is one of the challenges of successfully placing cases for landlord clients. The marketplace for buy-to-let...
General Insurance 15 Aug 2020

Rob Evans: Diversity in financial services

Rob Evans is CEO of Paymentshield Recent developments in the Black Lives Matter movement have galvanized dialogue nationwide around institutionalised prejudice, unconscious bias, and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) under-representation....
Protection 24 Jun 2020

Mark Graves: The outlook after COVID-19

Mark Graves is chief executive officer of Auxilium Partnership A couple of weeks ago we announced our collaboration with UnderwriteMe, where we’ll offer our member firms access to the Protection Platform. Why...
Buy-to-Let 24 Jun 2020

Bob Young: We must stay the course

Bob Young is chief executive officer of Fleet Mortgages Many have talked about the qualities required by mortgage market stakeholders throughout this period in order to successfully ‘exit’ themselves post-pandemic in...
AMI 24 Jun 2020

Stacy Reeve: Product value in insurance

Stacy Reeve is senior policy adviser at AMI On 3 June the FCA published guidance on the value of insurance products (GI and pure protection). The focus is on products which, due...
Robert Sinclair AMI
AMI 24 Jun 2020

Robert Sinclair: Showing true colours

Robert Sinclair is chief executive officer of AMI The first week of June saw the interim chief executive of the FCA make his boldest move since taking the reins. In announcing that...
General Insurance 24 May 2020

Geoff Hall: Life after COVID-19

Geoff Hall is chairman of Berkeley Alexander With everyone reeling from the impact of COVID-19, the ramifications for brokers’ businesses will be massive. Mortgage sales are likely to take the biggest...
pandora papers
Technology 24 May 2020

John Dobson: Discard manual AML checks

John Dobson is chief executive of SmartSearch The advent of social distancing has highlighted the shortcomings of many outdated business processes. With lockdown restrictions in place, it simply hasn’t been feasible...
Buy-to-Let 24 May 2020

Jane Simpson: Riding out the turbulence

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC The buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage market has, unsurprisingly, experienced significant turbulence since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown, meaning the profile of lenders and products...
fca fee
AMI 24 May 2020

Robert Sinclair: Business as usual at the FCA

Robert Sinclair is chief executive officer of AMI In its proposed fees budget for 2020/21, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has considered the effect of any fee increases on small firms...
Technology 24 Apr 2020

John Dobson: AML tax should be risk-based

John Dobson is chief executive of SmartSearch Last month’s Budget was delivered in extraordinary circumstances. There’s no way of telling exactly when the coronavirus crisis will pass, or what damage it...
Protection 24 Apr 2020

Kevin Carr: Pandemic protection

Kevin Carr is chief executive of Protection Review and MD of Carr Consulting Like almost every other part of the economy, coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a huge impact on the protection...
Buy-to-Let 24 Apr 2020

Jane Simpson: Listening to landlords

Jane Simpson is managing director of TBMC As everyone in the UK is adjusting to the societal changes being imposed due to COVID-19, landlords will also be considering the financial impact...
Adverse 22 Apr 2020

Paul Adams: Painting a picture

Paul Adams is sales director at Pepper Money At Pepper Money, we have recently completed the second round of our ongoing research into the attitudes and characteristics of potential mortgage customers...
Photo: RickDeacon / Shutterstock.com
Buy-to-Let 15 Apr 2020

Alan Cleary: Keeping up to date

Alan Cleary is group managing director of One Savings Bank In these extraordinary times, landlords, like everyone else, can be forgiven if their minds are elsewhere. However, despite everything that’s going...
UK houses
IMLA 24 Mar 2020

Kate Davies: Fixing our broken housing market

Kate Davies is executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) Whilst Christopher Pincher’s appointment as the tenth housing minister in as many years has drawn some scepticism from market...
positive quality
Equity Release 15 Mar 2020

Claire Barker: Keeping standards up

Claire Barker is managing director of Equilaw In December of last year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed that it had begun an ‘exploratory’ (though as yet informal) review of the...
Robert Sinclair AMI
AMI 5 Mar 2020

Robert Sinclair: A little top heavy

Robert Sinclair is chief executive officer of AMI The long-awaited Policy Statement on Mortgage Advice and Selling Standards has now been published by the FCA. Whilst the policy changes came into...
Market 2 Mar 2020

Craig Calder: A pre-Budget review

Craig Calder is director of mortgages at Barclays   At the time of writing, we sit on the cusp of a delayed Budget and something of a cabinet reshuffle. With this in mind,...
Market 25 Feb 2020

Craig Calder: Looking at the opportunities

Craig Calder is director of mortgages at Barclays   In last month’s article I focused on a selection of points from UK Finance’s ‘The Changing Shape of the Mortgage Market’ report. This...
Education 25 Feb 2020

Michael Nicholls: What’s in a name?

Michael Nicholls is relationship manager at LIBF Titles and designations: for many of us they’re important signifiers of what we’ve achieved, the knowledge we’ve built and the level of professionalism...
Market 25 Feb 2020

Ken Hale: Blurring mortgage product boundaries

Ken Hale is head of lending at Harpenden Building Society Brexit, intercontinental trade wars, quantitative easing, house price escalation. Back in 2000, when people were getting anxious about the Millennium Bug,...
income recovery protection
Protection 25 Jan 2020

Kevin Carr: Reflections on IP

Kevin Carr is chief executive of Protection Review and MD of Carr Consulting It’s been a great year for income protection (IP). Thanks to a combination of raised awareness, product innovation...
Buy-to-Let 25 Jan 2020

Ying Tan: Learn from the trends of 2019

Ying Tan is founder and chief executive of Dynamo The UK housing market is a multi-faceted beast containing hundreds of micro marketplaces. Each have their own collection of conditions and challenges which...
Market 15 Jan 2020

Peter Izard: The outlook for London property

Peter Izard is business development manager at Investec Private Bank There’s reason to believe that 2020 could prove a turning point for the prime London property market. Research from Savills suggests that...
AMI 13 Dec 2019

Robert Sinclair: Cultural awareness

Robert Sinclair is chief executive at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) As a responsible trade body, AMI has always wanted an effective and efficient regulator. In the FCA we have...
Protection 18 Nov 2019

Steve Ellis: All in our debt

Steve Ellis is head of risk and protection at Premier Choice Group We are all in the business of debt – mortgage brokers, healthcare intermediaries, IFAs. Hopefully by selling protection, household or...
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...
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,...
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...
fca fee
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...
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...
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...
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...
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