12 minute read
Conference Key Note Speakers
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Around the Network
NatWest Local Hero Mortgage Awards shortlists announced
The lender is recognising brokers in the industry who have gone beyond everyday expectations to put the customer and their local community at the heart of their firm.
Across the 12 regional categories, firms have been asked to demonstrate their position as a local mortgage and protection expert, their commitment to quality advice, excellent customer outcomes, and their positive contributions to their local community.
HLPartnership firms that have been nominated are: Best Firm, East of England CLS Money
Best Firm, West Midlands S J Financial Solutions
Best Firm, Central England Citrus Mortgages
Congratulations to all three, we hope they all go on to win in their respective categories.
Q3 Regional Broker of the Quarter from Nationwide
Congratulations to Brian Howitt from Oadby Mortgages won the Q3 Regional Broker of the Quarter from Nationwide. In recognition not only for the level of business submitted during this time, but also the quality of submissions due to the professional way Brian went about placing business with Nationwide.
BROKER OF THE QUARTER
awarded to
Brian Howitt
Thank you for all your support and business over the last quarter
Zoe Griffin September 2019 Regional Manager Date
Peter Hunt at Grand Designs ...
If you were at Grand Designs Live at the NEC in Birmingham last year, you would have been invited to the main stage in the arena “ask an expert”. And joining Kevin McCloud, from the Grand Designs TV series and a host of industry specialists live on stage was Moneywatch Finance’s Peter Hunt as he answered questions from the audience exploring the various aspects of their self-build projects and more.
Resilience on the agenda
n a recent “Dear CEO” letter to the Asset Management sector of the Financial Services market, the FCA highlighted the reliance that is placed on robust and reliable technology, which underpins a smooth operation of their businesses and the protection of client assets. I
The expectation and assumption was that a firm must ensure it manages its technology and cyber risk appropriately, including through appropriate oversight of third party firms and service providers.
In its consultation paper on Operational resilience, i.e. the ability of firms such as HLPartnership and the financial sector as a whole to prevent, adapt, respond to, recover and learn from operational disruptions the FCA has given examples from its work with four types of firms, a large dualregulated high-street bank, an Enhanced scope wealth management services firm operating in the digital space, a group of medium sized asset managers and an insurer with 350 employees providing life, motor, home, and pet insurance. Whilst none of these are of the size of HLP, the paper indicates the direction of travel for the regulator and I’m sure it won’t be long before the consultation results impact on us as a significant distributor of financial services products in the UK.
So whether we are a large organisation or a small operation what do we need to do to satisfy ourselves that if the FCA were to test our operational effectiveness? The first step is always to identify any important business services that if disrupted could cause harm to consumers and also recognise and document the people, processes, technology, facilities and information that support our important business and consumer services. Then there will be impact tolerances set and a programme created to test our ability to remain within the measures we have set ourselves through a range of severe but plausible disruption scenarios. If we do fail in our programme then the expectation is we will document and learn from our mistakes, identify changes, prioritise
Bob Haselip Operations Director
and invest in an ability to respond and recover from disruptions as effectively as possible. And of course we must create an effective internal and external communications plan for when important business services are disrupted. So if you call in expecting to hear from one of the team, and find that a herd of giant elephants have run through the building, don’t be surprised as we may just be seeing how resilient our business is to an unforeseen disaster whether real or imagined.
Ultimately operational disruptions can have many causes including, for example, technology failures or when making changes to systems. Some disruptions may also be caused by matters outside of our control, such as a cyber-attack or wider telecommunications or power failure, and it’s up to us to make sure we have the resilience in place, drive change where it is needed whether that be investing in improving processes, better infrastructure, training, building back-up systems, addressing vulnerabilities in legacy systems, and continually improve contingency plans. Focusing on our operational resilience encourages us as a Network to consider alternative ways how we can utilise technology better and ultimately improve the service we deliver to members and our business partners, in a way that monitoring individual elements and processes cannot.
Ultimately it’s our role to make sure consumers are able to buy the houses they want, find alternative financing when necessary, and have the insurance in place protect the home, the individual and the family. And as a Network we need to make sure the sale is compliant and commissions are distributed in an accurate and timely manner for the work that’s been done.
We will continue to strive to improve our systems, invest in technology and ensure that, should those elephants decide to rampage through HLP, we have a contingency plan in place so no-one, apart from those in the office, sees any disruption.
Call: 03300 552 651 Email: support@hlpartnership.co.uk 17
Conference Key Note speakers and Award Winners
On the 23rd January, Heythrop Park played host to the 2020 Conference with over 300 delegates, lender and service providers in attendance. Hosted by the network’s Commercial Director, Neil Hoare, the event followed the theme of “Stronger Together”. It was the first time that both HLP & MSN members joined together as one to celebrate the growth and success of the network. Delegates heard from industry leaders and were able to interact with a specially selected panel of speakers. The evening gala dinner and awards were hosted by former politician, author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth where HLP recognised the success of the network’s members and business partners.
Opening Address The opening address was given by MD, Shaun Almond, who congratulated delegates and members on record lending of £6 billion in 2019 and told the Conference that the network now had 336 firms and 656 advisers. The theme of Shaun’s speech covered the emphasis that HLP is putting on protection this year and exhorted delegates to make it a priority in 2020.
The UK Mortgage Market L&G Mortgage Club Director, Kevin Roberts, gave his view of the UK mortgage market and having congratulated HLP members for their contribution to the mortgage club, he went on to say that there were headwinds to face with strong competition for new business, thin margins for lenders and the effects of longer term fixed rate deals affecting new business in 2020. His message to brokers was to manage customer relationships in order to maintain contact and minimise the effect of competitor interference in luring customers away.
A Little More Disney Richard Beardshaw (HSBC) gave a revealing talk on Disney and their five basic principles which reinforce the customer experience and how he has used them to enhance his approach to managing his team and challenged delegates to use them in their businesses.
Banking Megatrends Dan Salmons (RBS) talked about trends in the consumer market and the technology space and how organising data and improving connectivity with the digital world was becoming one of the keys for businesses large and small.
The Equity Release Council Chris Pond, Chair of the Equity Release Council’s Standards Board talked about the safeguards available for customers who use ERC members as strong reasons why advisers should get involved as well as the innovation taking place and the growing numbers of lenders, including Nationwide, who are getting involved
Choppy Waters Ahead? Paul Lewis, the BBC presenter of Moneybox gave a speech outlining the reasons he felt that there were ‘choppy waters’ ahead for the lending industry because of ‘overcomplification’ caused by the multitude of different products and the issue of past sales of interest only mortgages coming back to bite as well as the obsession with relaxing lending criteria and creating more opportunities for debt.
RedArc Christine Husbands, Managing Director of RedArc talked about the work that RedArc does working closely with insurance companies. RedArc provides qualified nurses to give insured people practical advice and emotional support to help them cope with their experience of illness, disability, trauma or bereavement.
Regulation Frustrations Rob Sinclair, Chairman of AMI demonstrated his exasperation with the regulator over their proposals for widening execution only describing our beloved FCA in terms that would have shocked an audience of nuns. 19
Member Award Winners 2019 / 2020
Best Adviser Firm - North, Scotland & Northern Ireland AMG Financial Solutions
Best Adviser Firm for Later Life Lending Independent Mortgage Associates
Best Adviser Firm for Buy to Let Lending Buy to Let Broker
Best Adviser 2019 Rob Hart
Best Overall Adviser Firm and Midlands & Wales SJ Financial Solutions
Best Adviser Firm- London & The East and for Protection CLS Money
Best Adviser Firm for GI Moneywatch Finance
Best Adviser Firm for Residential Lending Citrus Mortgages
Best Adviser 2019 Tina Saunders
22 ts great to see that we have started this year as we ended the last, with strong year on year growth in mortgage completions of around 15% (Jan 20 v. Jan 19), after a record month in December 2019. There is no doubt about it, there is lots going on! I
Gavin Earnshaw Compliance Director
Developing our business
There is a significant pipeline of potential new ARs and advisers, and, with more certainty in the market after the general election result and “getting Brexit done”, we continue to see very low interest rates, lenders competing for market share and Insurers delivering product enhancements; all this is leading to a greater sense of optimism among network members and their customers. We also recently entered a whole new world of regulatory supervision following the implementation of the FCA’s Senior Managers regime in December, which increases personal responsibility and accountability on the directors of the Network.
In a fast evolving business it is important to ensure we have the people in place in roles to help us adapt to the growth of the Network and the ever increasing regulatory demands by the FCA. For this reason we have made some changes and been recruiting excellent new people.
HLP is delighted to confirm that Jeanette Stewart has been promoted to Head of Compliance and will now oversee all compliance functions, both field-based and internal (office). Paul Gentles will continue to manage the internal compliance team on a day to day basis and will work closely with Jeanette in her new role to ensure we continue to develop the compliance function to meet the needs of the business, our partners and the FCA. We have also recognised the need to maintain
to support your growth
the focus on specific areas of our regulatory responsibilities and have appointed James Stewart to take responsibility for Policy Development and Complaints Management. James will be joined by a new Policy and Complaints Support person, Becky Short.
In addition to these changes we have appointed and welcomed Hannah Turner to our Leicester office to become the first line support for member’s queries and questions. In turn she will be supported by the telephone BDM team Rob and Adil as we aim to improve access to information for our members.
We also recently welcomed Ruby Savani to the membership team and, in her role as Membership Assistant, she is providing much needed extra support in this incredibly busy area of the business. Baljit Rakkar has also joined the Internal Compliance team as Compliance Review Officer, replacing Jacqui Wilson who left the business recently.
Finally the Marketing team has grown with the addition of Lauren Richardson as Marketing Executive and it’s great to see that there is even more support than ever for our Appointed Representatives as we help them grow by enabling them to promote their businesses to customers.
As you can see we continue to invest in making sure that the business continues to grow in a safe and sustainable way, and we hope that you’ll get to meet them soon.
Call: 03300 552 651 Email: support@hlpartnership.co.uk 23
