Mortgage Business Expo (MBE) has published details of the seminar programme for its London show.
MBE South will take place at the Business Design Centre on 10 October and will once again host the Financial Intermediary & Broker Association’s (FIBA) Specialist Property Finance Club seminars.
Many of the seminars will be chaired by Rob Barnard, director of intermediary relationships at Pepper Money.
Keynote Speaker Rob Elder, Agent for Greater London at the Bank of England (BoE), will launch the event with his insights into the economic outlook for the housing and mortgage sector.
The first session of the day in the main theatre – General Market Overview – will be chaired by Barnard and will feature FIBA chairman and chief executive officer of SimplyBiz Mortgages Martin Reynolds, alongside Richard Beardshaw, head of sales, mortgage intermediaries at HSBC UK and chair of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), Karen McGrath, commercial regional development manager at Atom bank and Neil Wyatt, sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain.
This will be followed by the first of two standalone FIBA sessions, both of which will be chaired by Adam Tyler, a consultant for FIBA.
FIBA’s morning session on bridging and development finance will feature Zahira Fayyaz, regional sales manager at MFS, Ross Williams, specialist finance account manager at OneSavings Bank, and Sophie Mitchell-Charman, commercial director at LendInvest, alongside a representative from Together.
The afternoon session – Expanding Your Business Through Specialist Property Finance – will include Julian Ingall, director at Coreco Commercial, Mark Hutchings, business development manager at MFS, Grant Hendry, director of sales at Foundation Home Loans and Ian Errington, solicitor partner at Blacks Solicitors.
The final session of the day in the main theatre will see Barnard chairing a joint FIBA and MBE discussion on The Changing Face of Buy to Let with Martin Reynolds, Gareth Lewis, managing director at MT Finance, alongside a representative from Nationwide Building Society.
In the other theatre, there will be a morning fireside chat – AR and DA: The Merits of Each Told by Two Brokers – chaired by Rob Barnard and will include Ahmed Bawa, CEO of Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA) and Richard Merrett, managing director at Alexander Hall.
The afternoon seminar – Residential Mortgages: The Ongoing Affordability Challenges and Obligations will be chaired by Rob Barnard alongside panellists Sara Palmer, distribution director at The Mortgage Lender; Richard Harrison, head of ,ortgages at Atom Bank; Louise Weiss, national account manager at Bank of Ireland; and a representative from Nationwide Building Society.
Additionally, there are two fintech presentations, with the first focusing on the topic – AI Revolution in Mortgage Advising: Transforming the Broker’s Role in the Digital Era – with insight from Ifthikar Mohamed, director of MortgagX. The second fintech presentation will feature Andrei Lebed, CEO & co-founder at Koodoo, with the topic – GenAI is Blooming: What Does This Mean for the Mortgage Industry?
This will be followed by the seminar – A Masterclass in Later Life Lending: Navigating The Customer Journey – chaired by Kelly Melville-Kelly, director of risk, policy, and compliance at the Equity Release Council; Kay Westgarth, head of retirement distribution at the Equity Release Council and Paul Glynn, managing director, B2B Services at KR Group.
Three seminars are also being held in the afternoon. The first includes Elise Coole, managing director, at Keystone Property Finance, followed by a session for World Mental Health Day – Breaking the Silence: Championing Mental Health in the Mortgage Industry – with Jason Berry from The Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC). The final session will see a technology panel featuring Alexis Rog, founder and CEO of Sikoia and Kelly Bretherton head of product (intermediary mortgages) at Iress, discussing the topic – AI – Supporting the Advice Process – Not Replacing It.
Over in the Marketing Theatre, Google Digital Garage will host three sessions throughout the day – Writing for Social Media, Marketing Strategy and AI and Social Media Strategy.
The Mortgage Marketing Forum session will feature Jeff Knight, founder of the Broker Boost Initiative, director at Grey Matter Marketing, and director at The Mortgage Marketing Forum, along with Marcus Goodyear, marketing executive at Anywhere Works, who will share their expertise in the seminar titled – Be Easy To Mind and Easy To Find.
Visitors will also earn CPD hours towards the CII/Personal Finance Society member CPD scheme.
Reynolds said: “The specialist property, buy-to-let and residential mortgage markets have seen many challenges over the last few years which the intermediary sector has dealt with fantastically. The sessions that have been arranged showcase what the current opportunities are and will provide great discussion points for all involved.”
Mike Mikunda, event director for MBE, added: “We are delighted that Rob Elder from the Bank of England has agreed to speak, especially at such an interesting time in the base rate cycle. Also a huge thanks to the support of FIBA, Rob Barnard and Square 1 Media for pulling together such a great list of speakers and panellists, we look forward to seeing you on the day.”
