COVER FEATURE
link to the broker hosting the search facility to provide advice on the mortgage. The mortgage app follows a similar vein. It is free of charge for consumers and leads obtained are passed
on to brokers, also free of charge. The app’s features include mortgage and broker search facilities, and mortgage calculators. “I haven’t got a clue how many leads it will create for brokers but
we look at it as the Yellow Pages for brokers,” says Lofthouse. “There are few if any mortgage sourcing systems for mobile devices and there certainly isn’t any that has the facility to find a broker. What we are doing is a big advertisement for every broker in the country.” He expects to launch the app later this month, initially on the iPhone and then on Android phones and iPads a few months later.
GOOD NEIGHBOURS The app is just one thing the firm is working on to make sure it stays ahead of its competitors, one of which is located in the office next to Mortgage Brain – TrigoldCrystal. “We were the first people on the business park in Bromsgrove
eight years ago,” says Lofthouse. “Crystal – which was acquired by Trigold in 2009 –moved in two or three years after us, then it merged with Trigold and we became neighbours.” There does not seem to be any animosity, with Lofthouse
regularly enjoying a drink with TrigoldCrystal joint chief executive officer Jon Whitmore. But he says he has resisted the urge to hold a glass up to the
windows of his nearest and dearest rival. “There is always rivalry, but we get on well,” he insists. “ I have had meetings in TrigoldCrystal’s offices and it has had meetings in ours. I’ve never snuck into its office, but we think we are leading the market.”
NUMBERS GAME Mortgage Brain’s troubles with the OFT have not thwarted its appetite for more acquisitions. “We are continuing to look to grow our business both naturally
and through acquisitions,” says Lofthouse. “Where an acquisition complements what we do we would consider it.” One thing that the OFT investigation forced both Mortgage Brain
and TrigoldCrystal to do was to reveal their user numbers. “The submissions we made to the OFT about our sourcing
numbers were made 18 months ago,” says Lofthouse. “They showed that TrigoldCrystal had a 50% to 60% share of the mortgage sourcing market. Since then Mortgage Intelligence and Mortgage Next have both moved to Mortgage Brain and lots of other smaller brokers.
“Our market share is increasing and has increased by about 8% in the past 12 months,” he says. But it is not only TrigoldCrystal trying to grab some of its market
share back, there is new entrant Client Data Systems, headed by Heigho. CDS recently launched a standalone version of its sourcing system The Core, one of the highlights being the speed at which it can upload product changes on to its system. But Lofthouse seems unconcerned about the new rival. “We get product data in advance of release and over 90% of
requests are on the systems within four hours, and 100% within eight hours – I would defy anybody to beat that,” he says. “We will see how it goes, it’s always easy to talk the talk.”
GOLIATH RETREATS Some good news at least on the competition front came earlier this year when potential competitor Google scrapped its plans to launch a UK mortgage comparison service after closing its US version. The internet giant had planned to launch a comparison site similar to
Moneysupermarket.com, which inevitably would have put pressure on the business models of brokers. “Presumably the purpose of doing a pilot was to see what that
market was like and whether it would fulfil its aspirations,” says Lofthouse.
“It suspended that pilot so I guess it fell short of expectations and
aspirations.” When asked if Mortgage Brain has ever been tempted to supply
MORTGAGE STRATEGY April 9, 2012
a consumer-facing brand with its sourcing capabilities, Lofthouse says it is not something on its radar. “We would review it on a case by case basis but the market we are
going for is to support brokers, so brokers themselves have the sourcing capability on their websites,” he says. One way that the technology provider tries to instil confidence
in the broker market is by releasing its monthly product numbers. Its latest data showed the number of available products on its site increased by 87% in December 2011, compared to December 2010. “At the height of the market there were 37,000 products on our system, that went down to 2,400 and is now in excess of 10,000,” says Lofthouse.
But he admits that it is not always the most accurate indicator of
what is happening in the market. “The fact there are more products has to be good for brokers – but another indicator would be the number of products that have an LTV of 80% or greater and that is increasing,” he says.
LOOKING AHEAD So what does the future hold for Mortgage Brain and Lofthouse? “If you asked me this five years ago I don’t think anybody would
have predicted the answer correctly,” says Lofthouse, alluding to the downturn in 2008. “Having said that, in the past two years our reven ue has grown
and we are committed to investment and innovation. “I’m hoping in the future the market will see us as a successful
company that has continued to grow from where we are now,” he adds.
He has been CEO of Mortgage Brain for longer than he has held
any other role, so is he getting itchy feet? “I just love working here,” he says. “I love what I do, as do my
team of people and everybody who works here. There are always going to be challenges in the market and change and innovation – but it is also exciting – even in the bad times. “It is in the bad times that you find out the true mettle of a
company and everybody here has pulled through the bad times. It has been a combination of hard work and fun.” But if Mortgage Brain wants to survive the next 25 years, clearly
its survival is as much reliant on its own investment and innovation as it is a buoyant broker market.
MARK LOFTHOUSE CV
BORN: 1961: Skipton, Yorkshire
EDUCATION: University of Manchester Institute of Science of Technology, BSc Hons, chemical engineering
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: 1990-1996: Associate director, ACT Financial Systems 1996-1998: Sales director, Apricot Computers 1998-2002: Managing director, Assureweb 2002-present: Chief executive officer, Mortgage Brain
HOBBIES I am a passionate supporter of Carlisle United which has given me pleasure and pain in equal measure over the years. I watch tennis, am a fan of motor sport and a self-taught foodie and vinophile. I am also keen on travel and challenges, and successfully climbed Kilimanjaro in 2008 – before the celebrities.
FAVOURITE BOOK Gorky Parkby Martin Cruz Smith
FAVOURITE FILM Lots of favourites like the Indiana Jonesseries, The Great Escape and more recently The King’s Speech.
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