GRAHAM FELSTEAD APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF INTERMEDIARY MORTGAGES
Graham Felstead has been appointed Director of Intermediary Mortgages and Direct Brands for RBS Mortgages. He has succeeded Chris Pearson who has made permanent his position as Head of Telephony Strategy for the RBS Group having been working in this role since February on secondment.
Graham will be responsible for managing a team of 220 people including the 100-strong field and phone-based sales team for RBS Intermediary Partners. Graham has been with the RBS Group for ten years, having previously been the Head of Sales and Corporate Accounts.
Commenting on his appointment, Graham said: “I am delighted to have been asked to take on this role. Having already had a taste of it over the last four or five months I know I have a great team to work with. The business has certainly made great strides since Chris has been at the helm and I am committed to continue building our intermediary offering further.
“My immediate focus is to push on with our development of more mortgage and non-mortgage business opportunities for intermediaries and to look to add value to our broker relationships with events such as the next RBS Intermediary Partners Forum in Sunderland on 2 September, where we will showcase our latest ideas on how advisers can address their challenges of business sustainability in the current economic climate.”
HAYLEY SCOOPS NATIONAL AWARD
Hayley Merrick, a Business Development Manager with RBS Intermediary Partners (RBS IP) – based in Norwich – has won a top industry award. She was named Young Achiever (Lender) of the Year at the British Mortgage Awards held last week in London.
Hayley, 25, is responsible for managing relationships between RBB IP and a panel of mortgage intermediary firms and was praised by her clients for the industriousness, problem-solving and innovative thinking she has displayed in helping them to arrange mortgages for their customers.
Hayley received her award from revered explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Paula John, Editor-in-Chief of Your Mortgage magazine and Jamie Obertelli, Editor of leading industry magazine Mortgage Solutions.
Graham Felstead, Director of Intermediary Mortgages and Direct Brands at RBS Mortgages, commented: “We are all delighted that Hayley's hard work and client focus has been recognised. This is a really prestigious award, so to be singled out as the best in the country is fantastic. Knowing Hayley, she will work even harder to make sure her reputation and that of our business is enhanced even further.”
MORTGAGE INTERMEDIAIRES OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BUSINESS PROSPECTS FOR NEXT 12 MONTHS
New research has found that mortgage intermediaries are broadly optimistic about the prospects for their business over the coming 12 months. In a poll conducted by RBS Intermediary Partners (RBS IP), more than half (52%) of brokers who responded said they were optimistic about the future although a quarter (26%) still harboured reservations and remained pessimistic.
The research also found that virtually every mortgage adviser's business has suffered to a degree over the past 12 months. Three-quarters (77%) said that their business had suffered a lot and a fifth (20%) said that it had suffered a little. However, the majority of advisers felt that the market has turned the corner with 63% believing that we had seen the bottom of the market in terms of demand for mortgages
The sector of the mortgage market that appears most lucrative to brokers is Homemovers with 61% of the intermediaries polled saying that it offered them the best business prospects over the next 6 months. This was followed by Remortgages at 54% and First-Time Buyers at 41%. Around a fifth (18%) picked the Buy-to-Let market as the one to focus on.
Less than 1 in 10 felt that Government-backed shared equity schemes offered them the best prospect for business. Only 14% said that they had submitted a mortgage application for a client using one of these schemes.
Lawrence Della Valle, Head of Specialist Products RBS IP, commented: “Our research shows that, whilst intermediaries have borne a considerable impact from the market conditions that have prevailed for the last two years, they are now looking to the future in a bid to rebuild sustainable businesses. There is a degree of cautious optimism that is manifesting itself in advisers actively seeking out the areas of the market that offer them most potential, although it is clear that there needs to be further investigation in some areas. We are committed to supporting our business partners to make the most of the opportunities that exist through a number of initiatives including our next RBS Intermediary Partners Forum event that we are holding on 2 September in Sunderland.”
The keynote speakers at the event include Grenville Turner, Group CEO of Countrywide, Martin Reynolds, Development Director at PMS, Richard West, Richard West Associates and Graham Felstead, Director of Intermediary Mortgages at RBS.
There will also be a number of seminar sessions for delegates to choose from on topics such as the future of mortgage regulation, diversification, marketing, adding value to client relationships, government-backed initiatives and private banking.
Intermediaries can register now at www.rbsintermediarypartnersforum.com to book their place.
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