The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announce the winner of its Rising Stars competition as Michael Rhodes, service desk manager at the Leeds Building Society.
The CML invited entries based around the theme “If I could change the mortgage market, I would….” and four shortlisted candidates were invited to present their ideas to the CML Annual Conference on Wednesday 5 November.
A panel consisting of CML chairman Stephen Noakes of Lloyds Banking Group, CML director general Paul Smee, and Market Harborough Building Society chief executive Mark Robinson then probed the candidates in a Dragons Den-style panel, followed by audience voting.
Rhodes’s entry proposed a new style of tax-incentivised savings scheme designed specifically to enable parents and grandparents to help children from birth accumulate part of the funds that would enable them to bridge the deposit gap later in life when they wished to buy a home. The next issue of CML News & Views will include an article by Rhodes on his proposal.
The other three shortlisted candidates were also praised by the panel for their ideas, which all identified and sought to address a customer need. Neil Hoare of Personal Touch proposed an online information benchmark for mortgage customers that would enable to track how their financial circumstances compared with other households similar to themselves.
Lynn Jones of Kensington Mortgages proposed a mortgage product for borrowers aged 45 onwards that would include a conversion option later in the loan to enable people to convert to a partial equity release product.
Ben Morgan of Royal Bank of Scotland proposed a new approach to the digital delivery of mortgage advice, aimed at consumers who prefer to transact online but who need an advised process.
CML director general Paul Smee said: “We were delighted that our new rising stars initiative captured the industry’s imagination in this way. We were inundated with good ideas, ranging from the simple to the complex, and we were thrilled to welcome to our conference platform the four shortlisted candidates to outline their proposals. Congratulations to all of them – and especially to Michael, for his winning idea on a deposit-building savings scheme.”