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Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards 2009

The ninth annual Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards were held on 6 November at the Inner Temple just off London’s Fleet Street. Hosted by rugby legend John Bentley the Awards Dinner was attended by top names in the industry vying for one of the 13 awards.

The first nine awards are based on nominations by readers. These nominations are then shortlisted by a panel of judges who between them choose the winners.

 

This year’s judges were: Bernard Clarke of the Council of Mortgage Lenders; Diana Wright of the Sunday Times; Ben Wilkie, Editor of What Mortgage; and Joanne Atkin, Editor of Mortgage Finance Gazette.

 

Some of the award categories are divided into two: Medium to Large Lenders; and Smaller Lenders. Medium to Large Lenders is the top 25 lenders by size according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

 

The four remaining awards are for product providers. Financial research company Defaqto compiled the winners and finalists using a variety of analytical data.

 

For the Best Lifetime Mortgage Provider and Best Buy-to-Let Mortgage Provider Defaqto took into account a mix of interest rates, loan-to-values, fees, plus features and options.

 

The criteria for the Best Insurance Provider was based on price and cover.

 

For Best Overall Lender, Defaqto looked at the competitive positions of the provider offerings taking into account a mix of mortgages available for house purchase, first time buyers and remortgage; using a variety of fixed, discounted and tracker mortgages; as well as loan-to-values, application fees and no tie-ins beyond the initial rate period.

 

 

 

Congratulations to the winners and runners up….

 

 

Excellence in Treating Customers Fairly - Mortgage Lenders

 Sponsored by Worksmart Solutions

 

Winner

 

Newbury Building Society for its “Thinking Like Customers” personal development programme, developed in-house by Newbury staff working together using six key business commitments.

 

Runners up

 

Cumberland Building Society - Staff use The Mother Test to determine whether they are treating their customers fairly: “Treat our customers as we would expect our mothers to be treated.”

 

Leeds Building Society – Each month, the society’s board gets TCF management information. Key indicators are reported from across the business, most of which focuses on activity, not numbers.

 

 

 

Excellence in Treating Customers Fairly - Financial Providers

 Sponsored by Worksmart Solutions

 

Winner

 

British Insurance for working tirelessly to revive the flagging reputation of payment protection insurance, for speaking out against mis-selling and lobbying providers to reduce premiums so products are more affordable to a wider customer base.

 

Runner up

 

AToM – mortgage packager All Types of Mortgages was nominated by a number of brokers for doing a fantastic job and placing mortgage business for them during a difficult year.

 

 

 

Community Services Award - Medium to Large

 

Winner

 

HSBC for its very successful financial education project “What Money Means”, which helps to improve financial capability of children in primary schools all over the country.

 

Runners up

 

Leeds Building Society for its very active Charitable Foundation and numerous initiatives the Society undertakes all year round.

 

West Bromwich Building Society for its AweSum Challenge. This is a teaching resource for 8-11 year olds to help them improve their maths and financial literacy.

 

 

 

Community Services Award - Smaller Lenders

 

Winner

 

Darlington Building Society for its heavy involvement in the local community and helping 160 good causes in the last 12 months.

 

Runners up

 

First Direct. First Direct has worked hard on various fundraising initiatives and last year raised £200,000 for charities.

 

Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. The society’s adopted charity for this year is East Anglia’s Children Home and so far £61,000 has been raised through a wide variety of fundraising events.

 

 

 

Innovator of the Year – Medium to Large Lenders

 

Winner

 

HSBC for its Rate Matcher mortgage, which guarantees to match the fixed interest rate that customers were paying before rolling off their existing mortgage deal

 

Runners up

 

Leeds Building Society - the first UK building society to open a branch in the Republic of Ireland. It opened in Dublin on 1 July 2008 and Leeds was also the first UK society to open a Euro deposit taking operation in Ireland.

 

Leeds Building Society – for its E-mail Mortgage Application Case Tracking.

 

 

 

Innovator of the Year – Smaller Lenders

 

Winner

 

Norwich and Peterborough Building Society for its subsidiary Astra Mortgages with its Point of Sale Decision system that allows mortgage introducers to offer customers a lower interest rate if they have a low risk profile

 

Runners up

 

Cumberland Building Society - the smallest financial institution in the UK to offer a full internet banking service 24/7.

 

Newbury Building Society – for its Member Loyalty Card. This brings together local businesses providing a range of benefits to the members of a local building society who in turn are incentivised to use local companies.

 

 

 

Best Debt and Arrears Management Strategy

 

Yorkshire Building Society for a detailed strategy starting with a focus on contacting customers as early as possible to discuss payment difficulties and agree solutions.

 

 

 

Editor’s Award

 

Cumberland Building Society for very worthwhile nominations in two categories: Treating Customers Fairly with its concept of treating customers as you would your mother; and Innovation - being the smallest financial institution in the UK to offer a full internet banking service

 

 

 

Ambassador Award

Sponsored by Excel Insurance Solutions

 

John Goodfellow, Chief Executive of Skipton Building Society

 

This Award recognises diplomatic and spokesman skills which have reflected well on the industry generally, as well as the recipient's own organisation. John Goodfellow is prepared to champion the industry, whatever the issues, and has given exceptional service to the mortgage industry and in particular, the building society industry. He is currently chairman of the Building Societies Association, for the second time.

 

John has spent his entire career working in building societies, starting in 1964 at Burnley Building Society. He also worked for National & Provincial Building Society before joining Skipton Building Society in 1984 to lead the IT development strategy. He was appointed Chief Executive in 1991 and has driven the expansion of subsidiary companies to support the Skipton's core objectives. He retires next month and is a thoroughly deserving recipient of this award.

 

 

 

PRODUCT PROVIDER AWARDS

 

Best Lifetime Mortgage Provider

 Sponsored by Phoebus Software limited

 

Winner

 

New Life Mortgages

 

Runners up

 

Just Retirement

 

Norwich Union

 

 

 

Best Buy-to-Let Mortgage Provider

 Sponsored by Phoebus Software limited

 

Winner

 

BM Solutions

 

Runners up

 

Cheltenham & Gloucester

 

Nottingham Building Society

 

 

 

Best Insurance Provider

 

Winner

 

British Insurance

 

Runners up

 

Assurant Solutions for Intermediaries

 

Openwork/Cardif Pinnacle

 

 

 

Best Overall Lender

 

Winner

 

HSBC

 

Runners up

 

Nationwide Building Society

 

Mansfield Building Society

PrintPrint Article

Date: 7th, November, 2008


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