The firm is currently just weeks away from launching its mortgage product direct to the consumer market and has revealed it is looking at extending the offering across the wider market at a later date.
Discussing the firm’s intentions, Martin Rutland, head of PR at ING Direct, said while a direct to consumer launch is imminent, plans to broaden its distribution are in the pipeline.
He said: “We are just putting the finishing touches to the product, which we will launch directly to the consumer market within the next few weeks. We are also in talks with the intermediary market and the mortgage industry as a whole about how the offering could work in this channel, and the best ways of bringing the product to market. After launching directly to consumers, rolling out the product across the broker market seems a logical step.”
Rutland added the launch will see ING enter the mainstream mortgage market with a product it has cited as being straightforward and very competitive. It has based the features on research carried out among 70,000 of its savings account holders.
Rob Clifford, chief executive at MortgageForce, said attempts by a new lender to bypass the intermediary sector were unwise. He said: “Virtually no lender can make a noise in the UK mortgage market by giving intermediaries a wide berth. Over half of all mortgage sales in the UK are generated by brokers, and all mortgage lenders who avoid this market do so at their peril.”
James Cotton, mortgage specialist at London & Country, added: “If ING has a good proposition with good rates and decides to roll this out to the broker market, then that would be most welcome.”
