The move comes at a time when some lenders are looking to trim the number of packagers that they deal with, with GMAC-RFC and Kensington making announcements in recent weeks.
Accord is hoping to have the system up and running by the end of May and has targeted £325m of business before the end of the year.
Linda Will, managing director of Accord, said: “While we have a good direct-to-lender proposition on the near-prime side of our business, we have always appreciated the heavy end of the market and the role that packagers play. Therefore, we want to involve them in our dealings with that end of the market and we think we can make it work.”
Of the 50 packagers that Accord is hoping to have in place come the launch, six have been secured and another 14 have signed off the deal.
The announcement comes in the face of the trimming of packager panels by some lenders and Will admitted that the venture would look to take advantage of these packagers that have recently been discarded.
“Some lenders are saying they don’t want to work with medium-sized packagers but we’re saying ‘bring it on’ and we’re targeting those packagers which the likes of GMAC-RFC don’t want,” she added.
Andrew Seymour, chairman of Optoma Broker Solutions, said: “It’s good to have another player in the market but I just hope we get some exciting products for clients and good margins for the packagers. I worry that if you want to do £325m across 50 packagers, some of the margins are going to be very tight but it will be a good thing to have them in the market.”
