According to Ian Balfour, CEO of SMS, the upsurge in new lenders waiting in the wings along with those already launched in 2010 is now being reflected in the view from the business coalface.
He said "Our introducers are reporting the number of new enquiries is increasing, but significantly more prospects are committing to doing business. I have always believed that success in business is a matter of numbers. In the past eighteen months, advisers have had to work really hard to maintain business levels and income. From what we are gathering though, the public is becoming more receptive and there is a greater willingness to commit to the long term in terms of mortgages, loans and other financial products.”
He added "It has been difficult to convince brokers struggling in this downturn that there have been real signs of positive change as product providers really come to terms with the economic situation. Lenders have been working very hard to launch new products for intermediaries amid the challenge not only of the economic situation but issues surrounding lack of funding, new FSA rules and potential regulation in the shape of the results of the MMR. Lenders both new and old are already demonstrating slowly but surely how important they consider the intermediary channel to their future distribution strategies and we perhaps need to thank them for keeping faith as we put the worst of the recession behind us."
