The town centre branch, in Westborough, will be spearheading the Society’s policy of offering brokers direct access to a branch manager in their locality who can see through their cases from start to finish.
This personalised approach, which has been withdrawn by most lenders, is also being rolled out across the Scarborough’s ‘heartland’ branch network – which stretches from Middlesbrough in the North, as far South as Nottingham.
To celebrate the new branch opening, Scarborough BS is also offering a range of special products exclusively through the Scarborough town centre outlet.
A dedicated Broker Desk – with extended opening hours to support intermediary service needs – was launched earlier this year and future developments in the pipeline include the planned launch of an online Broker Portal in the Summer.
Simon Evans, relationship manager at Scarborough Building Society, said: “One of the messages we have heard from brokers is that having a good relationship with a branch manager who is available and geared up to deal with your enquiries from start to finish is worth its weight in gold. In response, we have overhauled the role of our branch managers. They now have a wider remit and increased discretion in terms of case decisions.”
Andy Frankish, managing director at Mortgage Talk, welcomed Scarborough Building Society’s plans. He said: “Establishing a more personal face-to-face relationship with branch managers is a very good idea. As long as it does not impair speed and service levels, establishing a better one-to-one relationship with a local branch manager is something that should be encouraged.”
