The Power of 8 lender cooperative has announced two new members for the new year.
2020 will see Foundation Home Loans and Kensington Mortgages join existing members Mansfield Building Society, Pure Retirement, Principality Building Society, Pepper Money, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society and Accord Mortgages.
Established in 2020 to provide brokers direct access to lenders, the group has hosted six events, starting as physical sessions at the start of the year and quickly transferring online in April. All focused on allowing advisers across the country to connect, share the latest proposition updates and discuss the changing needs of the intermediary market.
The 2021 events programme is still being finalised but the team hope to continue with online webinars and panel debates and introduce physical events across the UK, once it is considered safe to do so.
In addition, the group has chosen a charity partner to raise funds for in 2021. SEED is an eating disorder support service which provides confidential, independent and non-judgemental advice to sufferers and their support network to help facilitate recovery. It was set up by Marg Oaten MBE and Dennis Oaten, whose daughter, Emmerdale actor Gemma Oaten, battled an eating disorder for 13 years.
Oaten, manager and patron of SEED, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Power of 8 and have its support over the next 12 months to help us reach even more people impacted by these devastating illnesses. We are a small team but we have big ambitions and Paul, Nadine and the Power of 8 group have some brilliant ideas to help us raise awareness and much needed funds to make a real difference to those who need it most.”
Nadine Edwards (pictured), corporate account manager at Accord Mortgages, added: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to Power of 8 so far. We’ve witnessed some brilliant presentations, heard insightful debates and seen for ourselves what an incredibly resilient bunch we all are, creating innovative ways to do business, communicate with each other and get the market back on its feet.
“We have been busy getting our events calendar organised for next year and will be sharing details on our new website in the coming weeks. Whilst we hope 2021 will be a slightly less eventful year, we know there will be plenty of challenges ahead, so we’re focused on providing support to the intermediary community and in turn, we’d love it if they could help us support our chosen charity SEED.”