Mark Jannaway, director of OC&C Strategy Consultants, believed that the emphasis of lenders towards direct-to-broker, technology based solutions meant packagers had to look at other ways of adding value to the advice process.
Jannaway said: “Packagers have got a fight between lenders with technology based propositions going direct to the broker and those who deal with special cases using manual underwriting. But there is definitely a migration away from high service towards technology.
“Therefore, packagers’ strategy is either to get to volume and critical mass, where the economies of scale kick in and are used to source products more effectively, or move into a broader range of services for the broker so they are not just providing mortgage information.”
Jannaway believed compliance advice would be a key component of this, as brokers found it hard to keep up with changing regulations on a daily basis.
Tony Capon, head of intermediary sales at Salt, said: “I can see things being very tough for packagers over the next few months as I don’t think there is enough business to go around. For big packagers, their whole model is dependent on large volumes and high turnover and if their business levels dip, they could be in big trouble.”
Doug Hall, sales director at 3mc, added: “Technology is key for packagers moving forward and being able to offer online solutions. But they should also be looking at offering things like discount conveyancing as well as commercial and secured loans.”
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