Lender's director joins executive committee
The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has announced the addition of United Trust Bank (UTB) to its growing list of members, with Buster Tolfree (pictured) joining the association’s executive committee.
The UK’s first trade association creating and driving adoption of open property data, OPDA seeks to improve the homebuying and mortgage process, as well as set the foundations for the future of an open property data trust framework.
OPDA said UTB’s addition was a key milestone in bringing mortgage lenders and intermediaries into the delivery of a digital, data-driven, homebuying process and improving the experience for consumers and industry participants.
As a member, UTB is expected to bring a lending technology and mortgage data perspective to shape the future development of the data standards for specialist lending.
Last month, OPDA appointed One Mortgage System’s Dale Jannels as its first intermediary executive member. Shortly after, it added Australian-founded fintech provider PEXA to its membership and chief product officer Krystle Kocik to its executive committee.
“Announcing our first lender is an exciting and important milestone for the association,” stated Maria Harris, chair of the Open Property Data Association. “As we move towards upfront information becoming mandatory on property listings, ensuring that data is collected digitally and can be shared in a trust way with intermediaries and mortgage lenders will be critical for improving the whole process.
UTB’s approach to innovative thinking and the use of technology to create better experiences for their intermediaries and customers is well recognised across the industry so I’m delighted they’ve joined us at this pivotal time.”
Tolfree, director of mortgages at UTB, said it welcomed enhancements that simplified the application process for brokers and customers and helped mitigate credit and commercial risk.
“Joining the OPDA and being involved in opening up some of the traditional data-borders that have existed in the past, is therefore an easy decision to make,” he said.
Tolfree has 25 years of financial services management experience across various senior banking and lending roles. He is currently responsible for the end-to-end mortgage journey at UTB across its residential, buy-to-let, and second charge loan products.
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