Openwork’s Mortgage Advisory Panel (MAP) service survey, which asked for feedback from 200 of its advisers, covered all aspects of the proposition provided from lenders including products, technology, underwriting, case processing, KFIs, documentation, complaints handling and sales development.
Portman will be leaving the panel at the end of November. Openwork said the decision to remove Portman
from the panel is based on a number of factors including the poor MAP results, feedback from members, volumes of business and profitability.
The Mortgage Works (TMW), the subsidiary lender of Portman, was also in the survey’s bottom end of lenders. Bristol & West; Capital Home Loans; NatWest; Scottish Widows and the Woolwich were also in the bottom seven.
All of the key lenders on the panel are being provided with a report detailing their performance versus the ‘panel average’ and ‘best in class’ and are being asked to develop an action plan on how they intend to improve their proposition for Openwork.
The Mortgage Works (TMW) remains on the panel and Openwork said it is working closely with the TMW team to build a mutually positive on-going relationship. A small number of other lenders have been put on notice that they are not delivering to Openwork’s expectations and need to improve or be in danger of removal.
HBOS dominated the top of the table of lenders’ performance. Halifax was best overall lender, coming in the top quartile in five of the seven categories explored. Halifax was closely followed by BM Solutions, Alliance & Leicester, Bank of Scotland and GMAC-RFC. In total, the HBOS Group accounted for four of the top seven highest rated lenders.
Paul Shearman, mortgage proposition director, commercial development at Openwork, told Mortgage Introducer: "Clearly some lenders were delighted with the results, and some not. Our strategy is to become the most trusted advisory group in the UK, and want to end up with the best lender panel. We’re disappointed with all bottom seven lenders. We’ve had discussions with all of them and asked them to come up with action plans on how to improve so they don’t end up in the bottom quartile in the next survey, due in December."
"We’ve put quite a lot of pressure on a couple of the lenders that came bottom, and already we’ve seen a dramatic turnaround. Obviously, some of the improvements that need to be made, like improving online systems, will take time, but the action plans must be in place," Shearman added.
Matthew Wyles, group development director at Portman, said: "We always welcome constructive feedback from our partners. The Openwork survey results were, in the case of both Portman and TMW, based upon a handful of respondents and it is clear, therefore, that Portman's exit from the Openwork panel is based upon a broader commercial rationale."
"TMW has had a hugely successful year and we would readily admit that this growth has led to service pressures from time to time. Our investment plans for 2006 address these issues and we look forward to an enduring and fruitful partnership with Openwork," Wyles said.
David Finlay, intermediary business director for the Woolwich, said it was extremely disappointed to see the results of the survey but added: "We have seen this as an opportunity to gain objective feedback on our performance. We are already in dialogue with Openwork and are developing an action plan on our improvements.
"We are determined to do whatever is required to continue this vital relationship and to ensure that the next survey shows Openwork promoting our success."
Mark Howell, head of marketing at Bristol & West, said: "While the results from this particular survey are disappointing, feedback we have received from our customers over recent months has been extremely positive and reflects the developments we have made this year. In particular, improvements in sales and service support have helped us experience strong sales in a benign market and I am confident that this will be reflected in future surveys."
"We are of course continually developing our proposition to provide attractive products while also striving to make it as easy as possible for our customers to do business with us. We welcome such surveys by customers and we will work closely with them to ensure we listen and act on their feedback," he added.
Martin Reynolds, head of sales at BM Solutions, said: "We are extremely pleased to be placed so highly. The most important aspect for BM is how brokers rate us. Positive results such as this do not mean we will rest on our laurels, we continuously look for ways to improve and develop further.
"The lenders at the lower end of the results need to take this feedback seriously. To survive in the industry you must give brokers what they need."
Peter Izard, senior manager corporate accounts at GMAC-RFC, said: "These results are fantastic and are credit to the hard work of all staff at GMAC-RFC. We have only been working with Openwork for four months and it is a top five distributor of ours."
Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, said it was delighted with its performance in the Openwork survey. "The findings really demonstrate that we are committed to providing brokers with a range of highly competitive products, a market-leading online system and a first-class service. This sort of independent recognition is great to receive and it is a great incentive for us to maintain and enhance our offering to the valued intermediary market."
