wealth managers to help boost adviser fees while also addressing clients’ needs on tax planning and trust advice. Nigel Stockton, financial services


director at national broker Countrywide, is also keen to find fee sharing opportunities by developing the relationships Countrywide-owned luxury estate agency brands Hamptons and Sotheby’s have with high net worth customers. It’s about linking with every aspect of the financial life of the client.


“The successful firms have been very open-minded about sharing client banks and expertise,” says TenetLime’s Harle. “But I think the mindset about client ownership and trust is also changing for firms who were very protective of their customers. As long as you get the marketing and branding right and are clear about who sells what this type of referral can really boost your business.” Barclay’s David Finlay highlights a consequence of this development which he feels is further proof the industry is becoming more grown up. “There’s always been tension between lenders’ needs, market needs and the consumer,” he says. “Sitting in the middle is the broker. They have an opportunity to help ease those tensions by helping the customer get the best service across the board.” L&G’s Smith sums it up neatly. “We can show the FSA that we’re a grown up industry they don’t have to treat like school kids,” he says. “The main focus of the CML, AMI and IMLA ‘working together’ document was to show the FSA that we are capable of managing our relationships within the industry – I think our actions over the past couple of years shows they don’t have to tell us how to do everything.”


The bottom line is that the mortgage industry has always been about relationships but it’s true now more than ever. How you manage those relationships and who you chose to do business with on a firm-to-firm and person-to-person basis can make or break your business. In just the same way, lenders, brokers and trade bodies


pulling together could be what the industry needs to prove it has learned


A tangible improvement lenders could make would be allowing brokers to speak to the underwriter. Call centre staff are trained robotically and don’t have the authority to use their discretion which I


understand from a lender perspective but it makes it hard to get through any out of the ordinary cases.


Mark Glithero, sales manager, Thomas Oliver


During 2010 we did see a number of lenders start to have both online and telephone service surveys with brokers. They have also been keen to ask about what we like to see in online systems for the


next phase of website development. Clearly it is good to be asked but the real proof of this will be in delivery.


David Sheppard, managing director, Perception Finance


Lenders and networks are not listening to us and do not value their relation- ships with us. In fact, they demonstrate this every single day by dual pricing, poor service standards, withdrawing rates at short


notice and moving the goal posts on every case we submit. I could go on all day.


Tom Cleary financial services director, Start Financial Services


There are certainly some lenders which value their relationship with interme- diaries but there seem to be more lenders that either run dual-pricing schemes or exclude intermediaries from doing business with


them altogether.


Matthew Fleming-Duffy, director, Abacus Financial


from the past and is ready for a bright and responsible future. n


I have not seen any im- provements from lenders over the last year. In fact, it seems to me that they make my life increas- ingly difficult due to rule changes and incredible slowness. For example


they ask me to put something in writing so they have a record of it but they also record the phone call. Why then do I need to write to you?


Alan Lakey, principal, Highclere Financial Services


Belonging to one of the larger networks, I can say that they are


constantly looking for new media to engage with us including virtual events. As for the lenders, actions


speak louder than words. My experiences with lenders in the last year have thrown up numerous examples of why many of us believe they are trying to squeeze us out of the market and undermine our service and profes- sionalism with their incompetence and bureaucracy.


Dean Mason, Masons Financial Planning


We firmly believe that lend- ers value the relationship that they have with us. Regular communication takes place between MAB and the major lenders to exchange views, experi- ences and share data as


well as planning and implementing activities and initiatives to support our and their busi- nesses.


Furthermore a number of the lenders are


very supportive of activities that we run with our advisers including central and regional training events and workshops all of which require commitment, resources, investment and time.


Brian Murphy, head of lending, Mortgage Advice Bureau


mortgage introducer FEBRUARY 2011 31


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