Following the planned merger with Portman Building Society, scheduled for 28 August 2007, the Society is to provide a better and more comprehensive service to intermediaries with a new business development salesforce.
The strategy of introducing business development managers will build on the management of relationships at a local level and provide the support that intermediaries require. The Society will be recruiting a substantial salesforce commensurate with the size of the newly merged organisation in the intermediary marketplace. They will report into a newly created position of head of sales for prime intermediary lending.
In addition, Nationwide's prime intermediary support function, currently based at the Society's head office in Swindon, will be relocated to Portman's current headquarters in Bournemouth over a phased period. The Society announced in May that this is also where the Society's specialist lending division will be based.
Matthew Wyles, who is currently group development director at Portman, will become executive director at Nationwide, with responsibility for non-retail business. He said: "Intermediaries are at the centre of our vision for the future. Our new broker development sales force is a key element of a three year strategic development plan which will revolutionise Nationwide's systems and service delivery to the intermediary mortgage market."
Peter Leydon, divisional director of intermediary markets, said: "This announcement is tangible evidence of the Nationwide's absolute commitment to intermediaries. My management team and I will assemble, during the coming months, a substantial and highly effective sales force to support the thousands of firms up and down the country who want to do business with Nationwide."
