Stonebridge Group has introduced a new mortgage packager panel for its appointed representative (AR) firms.
The mortgage and insurance network’s new panel will consist of three firms – AToM, Complete FS and 3mc, and will provide packaging services for first-charge residential and buy-to-let business.
In selecting the panel members, Stonebridge said its primary objective was to identify firms with the best overall proposition for its ARs, business partners, and their clients.
AToM, Complete FS and 3mc all scored highly in this area and went on to complete Stonebridge’s due diligence assessment which covered a number of areas including business partner feedback, lender choice and product access (including exclusives), capacity to support the network nationally, service standards (including customers’ best interests and TCF), fee structure, commission levels, reporting systems and IT functionality, and financial strength.
The mortgage packager panel runs separately from Stonebridge’s specialist lending panel where AR firms and business partners can pass lead referrals for second-charge mortgage, bridging and commercial business to four master brokers/packagers – The Loans Engine, Omega, Positive Lending and Touchstone.
Paul Nye, business partnerships director at Stonebridge Group, said: “Earlier this year we contacted our AR firms to consult them on the establishment of a first-charge residential and buy-to-let mortgage packaging panel. We wanted to get a strong idea of the firms our ARs were already using, how they rated them and whether they had the key components to be included on our panel to provide such services across the entire Group. We received plenty of feedback and after some considerable due diligence, plus an intensive process of analysis, we felt that AToM, Complete FS and 3mc, were head and shoulders above their competitors and would fit comfortably into the way Stonebridge conducts business.
“It has been a rigorous undertaking on our part and the interaction and quality information we have received from the three firms selected, more than justifies their inclusion on the panel. As always we want to ensure that our firms and advisers have access to the best terms, products, and packaging services in the marketplace, and we’re confident that by choosing any one of the three, this is exactly what they will be getting.
“We are looking forward to working with all three firms, and believe our ARs will benefit enormously from either continuing, or establishing, a working relationship with them.”