Early indications are that at least 19 regional packager firms have agreed to join the association which aims to offer a central point through which to promote regional packagers and provide product, compliance and IT enhancements that would be unavailable to packagers working on their own.
Paul Brett, spokesman for Freehold, said: “Freehold has been a long time in the planning. The packagers who came to the meeting have felt that, apart from satellite packaging, there was very little chance for them to be involved with established associations such as the Regulatory Alliance of Mortgage Packagers (RAMP) or the Professional Mortgage Packagers Association (PMPA). We aim to provide a welcome to any packager who wants to benefit from being part of a larger group without sacrificing individual identity.”
John Prust, sales director of Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited (SPML), which has lent its support to Freehold, said: “SPML has always championed the packager and having seen the success of RAMP and PMPA and what they have achieved for their members, it is good to welcome an association which is looking to champion the cause of the regional packager. I very much end-orse Freehold and the opportunity it holds for all packagers to benefit from being part of a larger whole.”
Vic Jannels, director of PMPA, commented: “We are always pleased when groups of people get together in order to improve standards in the industry. This will give smaller packagers the ability to access bigger opportunities which would probably not be available to them currently.”
“From my point of view I feel dialogue between the larger packager groups would be valuable to ensure we are all moving in the same direction,” he added.
l Specialist lender The Mortgage Business (TMB) has stressed it’s continued commitment to the packager market following the appointment of a new management team.
New managing director Nigel Payne said: “Packagers will be a core focus for TMB. Unlike most lenders, who deliver their proposition for the whole market and then try to sell it to packagers, TMB will be developing its proposition specifically for the packager market. As always, we will continue to focus on providing specialist mortgages via intermediaries and packagers.”
