Leicester-based PMN is initially targeting a membership of 400 ARs and Principals within 12 months. Its network proposition has been in development since the beginning of 2003.
Among the benefits available to members are:
- No on-going costs to those members who are active within the mortgage market and can demonstrate a commitment to setting and maintaining best practice and compliance procedures.
- Access to MoRe, the user-friendly compliance service of PMN that is recognised as one of the benchmark systems in the mortgage industry. Robson Rhodes, one of the UK’s leading compliance and accountancy organisations, has engineered
- Direct access to a market-leading blend of lenders and general insurance product providers.
- A guarantee that all lender procuration fees and general insurance commissions will be paid directly to AR members by the providers.
- A rapid response complaints procedure in the unlikely event that a member or client experiences a problem with a service provided by PMN.
Principals will also benefit from membership of PMN by being entitled to the entire portfolio of network services, safe in the knowledge that clients will always remain under their control – not PMN.
Members must pay a fee of £399 in order to join PMN. In addition, a member will be expected to offer a notice period of two months if they wish to withdraw from the network at any stage.
“Too many networks are promising the earth and delivering a grain or two of soil,” commented PMN managing director Dale Knight.
“In my opinion, many of the networks that have declared an intention to represent Appointed Representatives have done so due to a knee-jerk reaction to market forces – not because this is a decision they contemplated taking a year or so ago. If that’s the case, then many intermediaries run the risk of receiving a sub-standard service that fails their needs – and those of their clients. That is clearly unacceptable.”
PMN will base its head office and compliance functions within the Midlands, although members will be able to access network support throughout the UK.
Dale Knight believes this infrastructure will quickly help PMN position itself as one of the premier mortgage network brands in the UK. To achieve this goal, Knight has called on his own experience within a direct mortgage sakes environment.
“It stands to reason that the better your proposition, and the more time that has been spent developing it, the more likely you are to succeed,” added Knight. “We have put considerable effort and resource into developing PMN.
“Our proposition has been thought through and meets a real need in the market. We’ve courted the views of potential members prior to launch and have reacted to what these people have said. We are not looking to become the biggest network, simply to be the known as the best provider of network services to ARs and principals in the UK.”
