32 Appointed Representative firms of the network have already been approved by the FSA and the network is expected to increase to more than 40 firms by the end of the year.
Unlike many networks which have fallen well short of their ambitious planned numbers, MBSL had set an initial limit of 50 constituent firms in its network, a limit which is expected to be reached early in 2005. MBSL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manchester Building Society, one of the fastest growing and most profitable building societies relative to size in the sector. Chief Executive of the Society, David Cowie, considers that MBSL has made an impressive start and is set to become a bedrock network for the industry.
“We’re a mortgage led organization heavily reliant on business introduced from brokers. We therefore saw the decision to regulate mortgage brokers as a potential threat to our core strategy. Our response has been to turn this into an opportunity by establishing a broker network. Given the risky nature of business start-ups the MBSL network team under its general manager, Neil Armitage, has done remarkably well to get so close to target already and will be there within two to three months. We have also established an infrastructure that will allow the network to grow well beyond our initial targets as 2005 develops.”
“We are aware that many other mortgage networks have achieved only a small fraction of their AR target numbers and may find it difficult to become viable. MBSL, however, not only has the financial backing of its building society parent but already has sufficient critical mass to be trading successfully in 2005.”
