They compliment some other names already on the panel, including Woolwich, Abbey, and Platform Home Loans, bringing a broad range of expertise across the entire mortgage market.
Optoma has welcomed the new panel lenders, who join at a time when many lenders are turning away from packagers, as the prospect of impending regulation in October draws closer.
“We are seeing a flight to quality in the packaging market and we are proud of the quality of our panel and the service that we can offer advisers,” said Optoma chairman Andrew Seymour.
Optoma’s Mortgage Club, which offers intermediaries exclusive products and enhanced procuration fees, has also added four new lenders: Coventry Building Society, Nottingham Building Society, Principality Building Society and Ahli United Bank. With Ahli, Optoma is the first to make available Islamic mortgages through its mortgage club, allowing clients to purchase homes in accordance with their religious beliefs.
As one of the UK’s most important intermediary distribution channels and established mortgage processing operations, Optoma has already entered into a successful agreement with MGM Assurance, where its members not only benefit from exceptional service standards and the facility to make payments on exchange across all lenders but also receive enhanced procuration fees via Optoma’s bespoke IT solution.
Andrew Seymour said: “The model we have developed with MGM will have wide application across the industry, the model is scaleable and adaptable to a range of organisations.”
Optoma Interpartners Network is planning a series of induction courses to detail how Optoma’s compliance regimes and operational processes will work with appointed representatives leading up to, and post, regulation in October.
The first was held last week at the company’s headquarters in Leatherhead, Surrey. The course was oversubscribed, with more than 50 mortgage advisers having expressed an interest in attending. Optoma now intends to follow this up with more courses on a regular basis.
Richard Palmer, Compliance Director, said: “We limited our first course to 20 Appointed Representatives and enjoyed high levels of input from all delegates regarding the company’s procedures”.
InterPartners, the Principal Company of Optoma Broker Solutions, was launched at Expo in November following in-depth intermediary research identifying independent mortgage brokers’ true needs post October 2004. “Optoma InterPartners will provide Appointed Representatives with the business structure necessary to allow a seamless transition from MCCB regulated business to FSA regulation.” said Andrew Seymour, Chairman. Optoma will recruit 500 intermediaries as ARs whom will be entitled to participate in the Optoma Equity Scheme.
The Optoma InterPartners Network induction course covers:
- Sales Process and Sales Documentation
- Training and Competence and CPD
- Systems and Processes for case submission
- Anti-money laundering procedures
- Tests
In addition, Trigold, Direct Protect and Towergate are also attending to present information on Optoma’s mortgage sourcing systems, pure life and general insurance products respectively.
Matthew Bright, Managing Director, said: “Many people don’t realise just how onerous the compliance requirements will become after October, our compliance processes are designed to be as practical as possible, with totally transparent costs.”
