It’s time to start thinking about the Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards and for readers to nominate worthy winners. The awards are a little different this year so read on and find out what’s what
The ninth annual Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards will be celebrated at a special awards dinner on Thursday 6 November at the Inner Temple between Fleet Street and the River Thames.
Based in the heart of London’s legal quarter, the Inner Temple is one of the four ancient Inns of Court and has been home, workplace, school and library to generations of barristers and judges.
Mortgage Finance Gazette is changing the format of the awards this year so they will be a mix of recognising the achievements of people and lenders and accolades for best products from the top providers.
Some of the awards will be worked out using detailed statistics from Defaqto while others will be sourced from MFG readers who can nominate potential worthy winners. A judging day will take place where the winners and runners-up within the nominated categories are chosen by a panel of judges.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The awards where we are asking readers to nominate worthy winners are as follows:
Innovator – small to medium sized lenders
Innovator – large lenders
Community Services – small to medium sized lenders
Community Services – large lenders
Excellence in Treating Customers Fairly – mortgage lenders
Excellence in Treating Customers Fairly – other product providers
Best Debt and Arrears Management Strategy – mortgage lenders
Ambassador Award - mortgage lenders
Innovator of the Year Award
Recognising that small organisations can be nimble and quick to implement a new idea, while big organisations may be slower but richer in resources, MFG fields two awards in this category – one for larger lenders and one for small to medium-sized lenders. As a guide we are suggesting that larger lenders are classed as those total assets or total mortgage balances outstanding are above £5bn. This means the large lenders are likely to be among the top 25.
Innovation for this award can relate to mortgage products, delivery channels, the use of technology to improve business efficiency and customer relationships, and ways of working with and managing people.
Last year’s winners were Yorkshire Building Society for paperless internet mortgage applications; and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society for being the first financial services organisation to be granted a Basel II waiver.
Community Services Award
This is to recognise work in the voluntary sector, to which many lenders are very committed. Again, there are awards for both large and smaller lenders.
Although financial contributions and fundraising are important criteria, the judges will also be interested in staff involvement in terms of secondments, fundraising and voluntary activities. Judging may not necessarily be based on one particular project (although a really worthwhile exercise would be taken into consideration), but on the sum of the parts and the role community service plays in the corporate identity of the organisation.
Last year’s winners were GMAC-RFC for its Community Involvement Programme and Darlington Building Society for support of four local hospices.
Excellence in TCF - Sponsored by:
Treating Customers Fairly is a major initiative of the Financial Services Authority and an important part of being a financial services provider. This is a new award where we are asking for nominations. And it’s a bit different as there are two categories – one for mortgage lenders and one for best other financial service product providers.
It is an FSA requirement that all financial services organisations have appropriate management information or measures in place to test whether they are treating their
customers fairly.
Just explain how you have been living and breathing TCF. Do you have a TCF policy in place which is fully understood by your staff?
Best debt and arrears management strategy
These are tough times for some borrowers who are feeling the pinch in the credit crunch era. Arrears and repossessions are rising but many lenders are doing their very best to keep their customers with a roof over their heads. If you have a good strategy that’s working and helping people, share your success with us.
Ambassador Award - Sponsored by:
This is in recognition of diplomatic and spokesman skills which have
reflected well on the industry generally, as well as on the recipient’s own organisation. It also incorporates leadership qualities where the nominee can focus their organisation on its corporate goals and direct the management team and business effectively.
Nominees for this category are likely to be quoted frequently by the media and seen addressing conferences and other events.
Last year’s winner was Matthew Bullock, chief executive of Norwich & Peterborough Building Society.
PRODUCT PROVIDER AWARDS
We will also be looking at some awards for product providers and the results will be based on statistics from Defaqto.
Best overall lender
For all categories in this section Defaqto will look for consistent competitiveness of products including rates, arrangement fees and product criteria. It will exclude any lenders who have unfair products, such as early repayment charge overhangs.
Best lifetime mortgage provider - Sponsored by:
The criteria for the lifetime mortgage provider are consistency of competitiveness of interest rate offerings and loan-to-value percentage rates during the year, taking account of other facilities such as drawdown.
Excluded are home reversions, products that don’t offer a ‘no negative equity guarantee’ and any schemes that are not interest roll up.
Best buy-to-let mortgage provider - Sponsored by:
Most emphasis was for the best buy-to-let provider is placed on the consistent competitiveness of the (lowest) initial rate payable for mortgage type (e.g. taking account of scheme type and initial duration: discount / fixed etc). Also, the level of arrangement fee(s) and number of competitive schemes available. To a lesser extent the number of BTL properties permitted will be taken into account and the minimum available loan size and level of rental income permissible.
Excluded are any mortgages with an early repayment overhang beyond the initial rate period, although there actually aren’t that many of these.
Best insurance provider
This category is for mortgage related insurance providers such as mortgage payment protection or income protection. The award-winner should be able to demonstrate that it provides competitive products - extensive cover at affordable prices – and ensure it provides clear information, has excellent service levels and claims handling.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you would like to nominate someone or an organisation for the MFG Awards - and you can nominate your own organisation - here is what to do:
• Send in your name, organisation, postal address, phone number and email address.
• State the award you are nominating for.
• Give the reasons for the nomination. We want to make the nomination process simple, so there is no need for a lengthy explanation, although any background documentation is always helpful. We suggest keeping your reasons quite short, within a page of A4 will suffice.
Getting your nominations to us
Choose from three ways:
1. Go to our website and apply online at www.mfgonline.co.uk.
2. Email your nomination to the publisher Dan Miller at daniel.miller@metropolis.co.uk.
3. Post your nomination to Dan Miller, Publisher, Mortgage Finance Gazette, Metropolis Business Publishing, 6th Floor, Davis House, 2 Robert Street, Croydon CR0 1QQ.
The closing date for nominations is Monday 22 September 2008.
How the awards work
The judging panel will include journalists from the national press, industry experts, and the editors of What Mortgage and Mortgage Finance Gazette. Statistics will be provided by Defaqto. The judges’ decision will be final. The December edition of Mortgage Finance Gazette will feature full coverage of the event and the winners.
Table sales
To book a table at the Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards 2008 please contact Dan Miller on 020 8253 4608 or email: daniel.miller@metropolis.co.uk.
The closing date for nominations is Monday 22 September 2008.
Date: 29th, August, 2008
ADVICE TO READERS
While this website is checked for accuracy, we are not liable for any incorrect information included. We recommend that you make enquiries based on your own circumstances and, if necessary, take professional advice before entering into transactions.
Enter your postcode here to find out how much your property is worth, based on Land Registry data.
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