Founded by brokers Michael Franklyn, formerly a business development manager for BM Solutions, and Lindsay Hopkins, the packager intends to aim for a small and exclusive membership.
Limiting itself to 50 members, Trafalgar has confirmed its intention to offer a three level service from the basic packaging role to communicating on behalf of the broker with their name and backing without taking on any compliance or advice role.
Staff have been recruited from BM Solutions and Bristol & West.
Franklyn said: “We aim to cater for the bigger players who expect a five star service. Most packagers reach a certain size and their service levels go down and we want to limit our size so we never have the reputation of being great at the beginning but bad at the end.
“What we’re doing is completely different. Often the biggest support a broker needs is on an administrative level and we offer that.”
John Mawdsley, director of The Mortgage Partnership, said: “Anyone with the confidence to launch at this time shows the pundits who said packagers would die after ‘Mortgage-Day’ were wrong. There are opportunities for packagers that can add value to the market.”
However, Paul Brett, director of Freehold, was more cautious. “It’s difficult to enter the market without the backing of a big player and you have to be brave to do so.”
