"With rates being pulled so quickly, the need for lenders to communicate with intermediaries and brokers with their customers causes an awful lot of pressure."
FR: Tell us a bit about your role and what a typical week involves.
A relationship manager needs to be flexible and adaptable to provide the very best customer service; understanding each individual broker’s point of view is fundamental in me achieving this. My brokers have faith that I’ll always get back to them, which means I’ll always be one of their go-to relationship managers to sound out business. I try to see as many of my brokers as possible, face-to-face each week, where I know I can add value to their business. I do this by applying my technical knowledge about how our products work and focusing my meetings on getting as many cases as well-packaged as possible, submitted quickly and enabling the case to proceed to a speedy offer.
FR: You’ve been a champion of diversity throughout your career. What changes are you seeing in the mortgage industry around increasing diversity, and what more can be done?
We’re still calling out for diversity and championing inspirational women, regardless of their role or position in our industry. Whilst there’s now a collective view on weeding out discrimination, whether it be an industry event and how we treat the serving staff, or how we are recruiting and promoting, we still have work to do. Previously, during my time at NatWest, I hosted and spoke on panel events to support women’s progression both personally and professionally. Aldermore has a clear strategy for encouraging diversity and challenging the norm, which has allowed me to continue my passion within a women’s network here at Aldermore. I work closely alongside like-minded colleagues, with initiatives planned to raise awareness of women’s health and to encourage progression for women in their careers.
FR: How can lenders continue to support intermediaries and their clients during the current climate of rising rates and stretched affordability?
We’ve seen the highest base rate jump in 27 years and new homeowners have never experienced rate increases like these. With rates being pulled so quickly, the need for lenders to communicate with intermediaries and brokers with their customers causes an awful lot of pressure. Aldermore has listened to this and been proactive during a period of intense change, always ensuring that brokers are the first to know when we’re making necessary changes to products or our processes. Transparency and clarity are key in order to protect the interests of both brokers and customers.
FR: What will be the biggest opportunities for brokers over the next 12 months?
There’s an opportunity to remain right at the heart of the customer’s finances, with constant digital and verbal communication which you see now on LinkedIn and via industry podcasts. Some brokers are being really creative, which is great to see! Customers who have just gone into long-term fixed rates will be far more relaxed than those that are coming to the end of their fixed rates, with real concerns about how much their monthly mortgage payments will go up, coinciding with a significant increase in the cost of living that still has yet to play out fully. Keeping customers informed with regard to economic changes and ensuring regular reviews will be fundamental to our brokers in the next 12 months.
