Chief executive explains decisioning behind the merger
Earlier this year, Shawbrook Bank announced the acquisition of specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages in a cash and share deal.
While the two firms had been working together since 2017 through a platform lending arrangement, this latest partnership seeks to offer the specialist lender greater stability in funding to continue its growth trajectory.
Mortgage Introducer has spoken with the chief executive of Bluestone Mortgages to understand why the firm has chosen this partnership, what it is seeking to achieve and the benefits for brokers and consumers.
Choosing Shawbrook Group
Steve Seal (pictured), chief executive of Bluestone Mortgages, said Shawbrook has been a long-standing strategic partner for many years and was a natural fit to help Bluestone achieve its ambitions.
“Combining our proposition and expertise with the additional capabilities and funding certainty from Shawbrook, provides us with the firepower to support an ever-growing number of customers who need specialist financing support,” he said.
Seal added that Bluestone shared a similar approach as Shawbrook, to provide specialist finance at scale, combining technology and data with a team of experts.
“This ‘best of both’ model is key to delivering a seamless digital experience with swift decision-making and supporting brokers and home buyers when they need it most,” Seal explained.
For brokers, Seal said the firm was keen to turn on the head the notion that specialist meant slow, to help them get the answers they need sooner, so that they in turn can better support their clients.
Growth plans
“We have always had exciting growth plans, and through the support available from Shawbrook, we hope to accelerate these,” Seal said.
In the current environment, Seal said he had seen increasing numbers of current and potential homeowners locked out of the mainstream system.
He believed that by taking a more holistic approach to affordability and acting customer first, the firm can help many more clients through the partnership, as it opened up lending and innovation opportunities.
Benefiting brokers and consumers
In the current environment, customers are being squeezed by the cost-of-living and rising interest rates. Seal said, for many, this would mean fundamental shifts in their affordability status when they came to buying a new home or rolled onto the standard variable rate (SVR) with their current provider.
As a result of this, Seal said many customers would find themselves needing specialist financing for the first time.
“If you add to that squeeze, larger longer-term trends both in terms of employment and life changes that can often result in complex credit histories, then all of a sudden the key factors of specialist lending become more of the norm in the lending world,” he said.
Seal said specialist lenders were here to help meet that need, and to support both individuals and their brokers through the changes ahead.
“Through this partnership, we will be able to further develop our proposition, providing brokers with innovative lending solutions to meet their customers’ unique financial needs, particularly those who are self-employed or have complex credit histories,” Seal added.
For consumers, he believed this would result in a smoother end-to-end mortgage journey, with quick and accurate decisions at its core.
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