Karasavvas received approval from the Financial Services Authority earlier this week to become an AR of Mortgagematch, a sister company of Mortgageforce.
Karasavvas said: “I have been with Mortgagematch Homeloans as a directly authorised broker for just over a year now. It has seen many changes but under the direction of managing director Ian McPherson and Mortgageforce MD Kevin Duffy.
“This has very much been the foundation for me to develop my own branding. The most frustrating part was the application and approval from the FSA to undertake controlled functions as an AR but once this came through the rest was pretty much plain sailing.”
Karasavvas said the support from Mortgagematch had been exceptional, adding: “Chris Batson, compliance manager and our main man there, has proved that compliance can be a broker’s friend, contrary to common belief!”
Future growth
Karasavvas plans to recruit another business writer in the first quarter of 2012 and aims to add four more by the year end.
He said: “There are still fantastic brokers out there who are laying a little dormant waiting for business to come to them but those days are long gone. I want to help and encourage them to have faith in their abilities as brokers, to maximise their potential in the market place and to start realising there is a future in the mortgage industry again and that every person is the architect of their own fortune - even mortgage brokers.”
Kevin Duffy, managing director of Mortgageforce, said: “What differentiates Lea from his peer group is that he's not afraid to ask his clients for business referrals or gather information where other brokers are too ignorant or too downright lazy to make the effort.
“The economic downturn has meant that brokers have needed to be more entrepreneurial and resourceful of where they get their business from and Lea is one of those guys.”
