The Cumberland continues to develop its Intermediary team
The Cumberland Building Society continues to develop its Intermediary lending team as its distribution channel expansion gathers momentum.
Having built a strong foundation in lending to the hospitality sector over the last 20 years, The Cumberland’s specialist Intermediary team deliver holiday let and residential mortgages to customers via its network of brokers. The team includes 17 team members, led by Head of Intermediary Lending, Grant Seaton.
Some of the Intermediary team members include Anne Hodgson as Business Development Manager, Lisa Hodgson as Senior Sales Manager, Kevin Aitken as Relationship Manager, and Ieuan Keir as a Lending Officer.
The building society, having offered residential mortgages to a select panel of intermediary firms for a number of years, made a decision in 2021 to develop its Intermediary team further in a bid to expand its services in the intermediary market.
Holding a wealth of experience across the financial sector, the team’s personable approach compliments The Cumberland’s purpose – to deliver a banking service that is kinder to people.
With over 17 Intermediary experts in our Intermediary team, this article does not yet feature all members of the team.
Grant Seaton, Head of Intermediary Lending
Grant, who was appointed earlier this year, is responsible for overseeing the Intermediary team’s expansion across the residential mortgage distribution channels.
Grant comments: “As we continue to develop our intermediary offering and work towards more automation within some of the processes, our people are offering an outstanding service to our intermediary partners. I am very mindful that automation has its advantages, but so does the human touch – especially in the current economic environment when placing a client’s case sometimes needs a little more explanation to smooth out the process.
"As automation does start to develop, I am sure we will still look to offer that personable approach to support our intermediary connections.”
Anne Hodgson, Business Development Manager
Anne’s role ensures The Cumberland provides its intermediary business partners with all the help and support they need.
With over 30 years' experience in financial services, Anne started her career within the HSBC graduate scheme, building her knowledge of retail, commercial and investment banking. She then joined The Cumberland, working in Marketing and Development and as part of the branch network, before progressing into managing a portfolio of high value corporate clients. Now, Anne is an area based Business Development Manager within the Intermediary team.
Anne said: “It’s an exciting time for The Cumberland’s Intermediary team. Maintaining the high level of enthusiasm, motivation and collaborative working with brokers will be key to further strengthening our position in the market.
“By continuing to offer excellent products and services to intermediaries, we’re well placed to offer a special proposition and further support brokers.”
Lisa Hodgson, Senior Sales Manager
Lisa supports the Intermediary team’s relationship managers across all aspects of their day-to-day tasks.
Since leaving school, Lisa has worked in financial services. Starting out working in the branch network, Lisa managed every branch on the West Coast of Cumbria, and as a mortgage advisor for 13 years, before joining the Intermediary team almost 2 years ago.
Lisa added: “With a great team filled with exceptional talent, a key focus moving forward is going to be on growing and developing the Intermediary team, so we are on hand to assist brokers and their clients whenever needed.
“At The Cumberland we aim to put people at the heart of what we do, and the Intermediary team aims to do exactly that. By taking this approach we can deliver a service which truly resonates with people and helps them achieve their dreams and ambitions.”
Kevin Aitken, Intermediary Relationship Manager
Kevin, who processes cases and provides updates to brokers as their dedicated relationship manager, has been at The Cumberland for 20 years.
Joining as a cashier, Kevin worked his way up, becoming an investment advisor, mortgage manager, and then a mortgage team manager, before joining the Intermediary team.
On his main focus for the team, Kevin said: "Our Intermediary team is still new. My main focus is to help the team build and grow, to continue to improve the service, and build on the relationships we have made with brokers."