B&B is expect business volumes to increase with the restructure of its broking arm and is to undertake a recruitment drive as a result of the relaunch of its broking proposition.
The proposition involves reducing its lender panel to 25 lenders and introducing a flat-rate client fee of £199. The structure and size of the panel has been based on extensive consumer and adviser research and lender analysis.
The mortgage panel will be reviewed every six months.
Duncan Pownall, mortgage development manager at B&B, said: “We are looking to go on a recruitment drive to up our sales force from 200 to 250 therefore creating 50 jobs.
There will be a focus on B&B-related exclusives and brokers will be recognised purely on mortgages sold and not which lenders products are sold.”
However Mark Chilton, chief executive officer at Purely Mortgages, predicted that the real winners in 2005 would be fee-free brokers.
He said: “With a great number of people coming to the end of low-rate fixes they will be looking to remortgage and keeping fees down will be a great incentive.”
James Cotton, mortgage specialist at London & Country, said: “It will be interesting to see how mortgage customers take to the broker fee scenario. We will remain a fee-free provider as we believe in the service that we can offer.”
Pownall added: “We accept that there are lots of brokers assessing the viability of charging fees at the moment, and believe ours are very competitively priced.”
