Firing Line: Martin Reynolds, Simplybiz

The recently appointed SimplyBiz Mortgages chief executive intends to go big on buy-to-let this year. Martin Reynolds has noted the rental demand as one to watch as he gets his teeth into the new role. It will be one of many major focal points for him, together with MMR, RDR, first time buyers and the unknown of European directives.

It is still early days for the new leader. Only a week into the position at the time of writing, Mr Reynolds was coy about specifics when asked about developments coming up. But his ideas, he said were plentiful.

Mr Reynolds has joined SimplyBiz Mortgages after being self-employed for two years. He said only the lure of and “exciting, challenging and interesting” role could have hauled him back into full-time employee status.

He said: “We are still in a very difficult market. We have RDR coming up which will not affect mortgage advisers much but affects some members who do investment as well. And then there is MMR which is affecting us directly and we still have liquidity issues and big challenges in the wider market. Some of the product changes and development of my ideas will help the business and advisers to grow.”

According to Mr Reynolds, SimplyBiz Mortgages had been growing anyway, year on year. His appointment is part of an accelerated growth strategy in the business.

But he added: “It would be a little unfair to assume the business was in need of better leadership. The opportunity really came around when previous head of mortgages had resigned. It allowed the business to step back and fully assess where to go.”

SimplyBiz Mortgages has previously offered roadshows to support advisers. What Mr Reynolds will be looking into, is other routes and methods outside the box to support the business’ members.

He said: “Advisers are after help with business structure and marketing. We also will be looking into providing industry information. So for example, when the likes of the 585-page MMR document comes out, we want to condense the key factors for them into two or three pages.

“I do not think mortgage advisers are struggling as much but it is still very tough at the moment. The key for advisers is to be confident in their own products and themselves and the advice they give. They just need to keep abreast of market changes.”

Treating customers like clients was crucial, Mr Reynolds added. It was just one word he explained, but mortgage advisers needed to move completely away from one-off customer sales and offer more long term services beyond that, such as protection.

He furthered: “We are also seeing some pure IFAs who do not offer mortgages joining up together. It is a little bit early to reveal definite plans on the SimplyBiz side to support advisers but there are a few ideas we are working that will be coming out very soon.”