By the end of January, the total headcount at Foundation will be up 17% compared with the same point last year.
Foundation Home Loans has made a significant increase in recruitment, expanding resources across its underwriting, new business and sales teams.
In January, the lender added seven underwriters, following the appointment of a number of underwriting assistants, processing team members and completions staff over the previous few months.
Since September last year, Foundation’s new business team numbers have grown by 45%, with many staff remotely recruited and working across the UK. The lender has advocated remote working since 2018.
Foundation’s sales team has also been boosted, with a number of new starters and promotions for existing staff.
In January, the lender added two internal business development managers (IBDMs) and a sales support team member, while two IBDMs have been promoted to the role of regional account manager (RAM).
David Wheatley (London) and Patrick Ogrigri (South Central) have been promoted to RAM and will be looking after intermediaries in those regions.
In January, Sarah Wade was promoted to head of marketing, with responsibility for driving the lender's marketing in 2021 and beyond.
According to Foundation, the ongoing recruitment drive will ensure it has the resources required to deal not only with an anticipated busy first quarter, but also to allow it to meet its ambitious new business and lending targets in 2021 and beyond, and to provide a much smoother process for advisers and their clients.
By the end of January, the total headcount at Foundation will be up 17% compared with the same point last year.
George Gee, commercial director at Foundation Home Loans, said: “Ensuring we have all the resources required within the business in order to support our adviser partners, and to help us move forward as a lender, has been a key focus over the last few months, and we’ll continue to recruit and promote as required across all teams.
“The next couple of months will undoubtedly be busy from a completions perspective as we work to ensure as many cases as possible can complete before the stamp duty deadline, but we certainly don’t view this as a temporary arrangement.
“2020 was a highly successful year for Foundation and, as a result, our lending ambitions have grown for 2021. It’s why we’ve also increased the numbers and experience within our underwriting and sales team to support the ongoing demand that advisers are seeing in the specialist residential and buy-to-let sectors.
“We are also very pleased to announce the promotions of both David and Patrick as new regional account managers.
"Each has developed incredibly strong levels of knowledge and experience working within Foundation as IBDMs and we believe they will be a huge asset, not just to our sales performance, but also to the advisers they’ll now be working with.
“In addition, we are delighted to announce the promotion of Sarah Wade, our new head of marketing, who with a wealth of specialist mortgage marketing experience will now be leading Foundation’s marketing.
“Overall, and even with the difficult circumstances brought about by the pandemic, Foundation has the resources and operation to support advisers and their clients, and we are constantly reviewing how we work to ensure the best possible service and experience for all who use us.”
