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18 | Interview
In the
hot seat
In the hot seat this month is Paul Fradgley,
CEO at Evaluate Technologies
Who are you and what do cialist mortgage sourcing system in Q3 2007. their feet. They do not go online to be sold as a
you do? The work however was not wasted as the sys- lead to anybody and leads purchased in this way
Paul Fradgley. I am the CEO at Evaluate tem is the foundation EvaluateConsumer; our will continue to convert badly – even when the
Technologies. We specialise in delivering online whole of market consumer-facing proposition market returns. They do go online to conduct
solutions that allow intermediaries to trade mentioned previously. research and brokers that offer them support in
seamlessly with clients and their preferred this area will earn their trust and the right to
product and service providers. What do you see as the main advise them when they are ready.
Our EvaluateConsumer proposition enables problem for brokers using
intermediaries to offer their clients a compelling sourcing systems at the Are intermediary firms
online mortgage comparison experience. Users moment? genuinely embracing the online
may view best buys, source a quick quote, We see three principal problems for brokers phenomenon?
complete and submit an enquiry, and then using sourcing systems today. Firstly they have to Firms operating in the mortgage market must
review the results and apply online. It will also spend too much time researching lending criteria look at what is happening around them, realise
encourage the user to request help from a and product information. This is a real problem how powerful a tool the internet really is and
mortgage intermediary on or off-line at any stage in the current market where brokers must advise work with it not against it. There will always be a
of the process. across multiple categories if they are to survive. need for advice as house buying remains the
Secondly, lack of an online capability makes it biggest commitment there is but there is growing
What is your background? impossible to offer a compelling service to the evidence that people are looking to up the ante
The first part of my career was spent as a large and growing segment of the market that in terms of being more proactive and sophisticat-
Management Consultant. I consulted for three wishes to transact online. Thirdly, brokers are ed in their searching and comparison methods.
years prior to an MBA at Manchester Business unable to view the direct to lender products The fact that the mortgage market is so
School and then spent five years with Gemini which are often the most competitive on the behind the rest of the financial service industry
Consulting, the mainstream consulting arm of market today. Regardless of whether they choose in the utilisation of this technology is nothing
Cap Gemini Sogeti. to recommend them, we feel it’s crucial that short of staggering. There is still time to make
I then worked as the Chief Executive of Lateral advisers have a clear knowledge of what’s avail- changes to firms outlooks and models but these
Net Ltd, a cutting edge digital agency for three able in the wider market. Without this informa- must be done soon to really maximise the huge
years before entering the financial services indus- tion, they run the risk of being less knowledgeable potential that the internet can add to broker’s
try in 2003. As Chief Executive of Primrose than their clients – an impossible position. offerings.
Associates, I grew the company from an 8-person
IFA business into a 55-person IFA/packager in You have previously gone on What does the rest of 2009 hold
2006. After initially developing our packager record criticising comparison for brokers?
business as a means of funding the recruitment sites, do you still believe they Beside from intermediaries embracing the inter-
of top class graduates into the IFA business, we are failing consumers and net, 2009 will prove to be the year that mortgage
found that it had become the largest part of the brokers? sourcing technology finally begins to catch up
business by early 2006. Definitely. The proof is in what has happened to with that provided in other markets. Brokers will
On assessing the market, we realised that the the price of a mortgage lead over the last two migrate to online systems that integrate deeper
packager sector only existed as a solution to the years. It has fallen off a long and steep cliff; a and deeper into lender systems, and that deliver
weaknesses in the incumbents sourcing systems clear indication that the same thing has hap- complementary quotes without re-keying. As a
and that eventually one of the players would pened to conversion rates. Clearly the market has consequence, forward looking mortgage brokers
address this. We therefore resolved to be that been a large part of this, but we feel that the mar- will make the jump to becoming rounded finan-
player and created and span off Evaluate ket can only be blamed for some of the story. cial advisers, capable of providing advice and
Technologies later that year. We launched – with The fact is that consumers are increasingly savvy gaining income from many different product
spectacularly bad timing – a market-leading spe- about the internet and prepared to vote with areas.
June 2009 Mortgage Introducer
www.mortgageintroducer.com
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