United Trust Bank’s active Mortgage Loan book has exceeded £1billion for the first time, as the specialist lender’s Mortgages for Intermediaries division predicts 24% growth in new business this year.
UTB launched into the mortgage market in 2016 with a Second Charge offering which quickly became a firm favourite amongst introducers and won numerous awards for its excellent service, common sense underwriting approach and use of innovative technology. The Bank expanded its product range using the same ethos to include specialist First Charges for purchases, remortgages and unencumbered properties in 2020 followed by a specialist Buy-to-Let range in 2022.
Earlier this year UTB appointed Caroline Mirakian as Sales & Marketing Director – Mortgages with a key objective to develop the Bank’s distribution, particularly amongst clubs, networks and packagers. UTB Mortgages for Intermediaries expects to grow by 24% in 2023, the third consecutive year of 20%+ growth despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic, extreme market volatility at the end of 2022 and interest rate increases this year.
UTB’s Director of Mortgages, Buster Tolfree, attributes a large part of its success to continuing to support brokers and ensuring that introducers always had options to offer customers even when other lenders were stepping out of the market. Earlier this month the Bank announced a raft of product enhancements, including the launch of new Tracker rates, and product fee options for BTL, which have been well received by mortgage brokers.
Buster Tolfree, Director of Mortgages – United Trust Bank, said: “This is a momentous milestone for the Bank and a fantastic achievement for the mortgage team who, in my view, are one of the best in the industry.
“We couldn’t have achieved a £billion without the support of our amazing broker partners. Many of them have helped us to develop our proposition along the way, testing new tech and processes and giving honest feedback. This collaboration and our commitment to continually improving mortgage journeys for brokers and customers has gained us some very good and loyal friends.
“We have built our reputation on being a dependable specialist mortgage lender, that is happy to take a view on cases which fall outside of norm, and who is committed to supporting brokers through whatever the market and economy can throw at us. Although the outlook may be uncertain, we’re here for the long term and excited about what the future holds.”