The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders’ Association (IMLA) has revealed that David Finlay, managing director for the intermediary channel at Barclays UK Retail and Business Bank, will become the first IMLA chairman from a mainstream retail bank when he takes the reins from outgoing chairman, John Heron, from 1 December 2012.
IMLA announced its new chairman and board of directors for 2013 at its Annual General Meeting in London.
Charles Haresnape, managing director of residential mortgages at Aldermore, has been appointed as deputy chair.
The election process saw a record number of nominations received for the chair and directorships.
Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, was re-elected as a director on the IMLA board, where he will sit alongside Richard Tugwell, director of intermediary sales at Virgin Money, and Kevin Purvey, head of intermediary sales at Coventry Building Society.
David Finlay said: “I am delighted to have been elected as chairman for IMLA, and that Charles Haresnape has agreed to work alongside me as deputy chair. John Heron has done a fabulous job for IMLA through a really dynamic period in the industry’s history, and will be a hard act to follow.
“Without pre-empting what we aim to deliver on behalf of IMLA members, we will continue to work closely with other trade bodies, particularly the CML and AMI, and hold regular dialogue with the regulator and government to influence their thinking for the benefit of the industry.
“As an inclusive, member-focused trade body we will also seek to ensure our members can regularly meet to share their thoughts and views.”
Heron added: “IMLA has made very significant progress over the last two years. It now represents a much more comprehensive and diverse range of intermediary lenders, and counts amongst its executive committee representatives some of the most experienced individuals in the industry. This ensures a very high quality debate and a laser-sharp identification of the challenges our industry faces.
“I am very grateful to the outgoing board for their hard work and support over the last two years. Together we have reinvigorated IMLA as the representative body for intermediary mortgage lenders.
“The strength and diversity of the new board underlines the progress we have made – with a large retail bank, a ‘challenger’ brand, a leading building society and two specialist lenders for the general and buy-to-let markets.”