Amyn Fazal, chief executive of Penrith Building Society, says the lender has a strong capital base and is looking to grow organically.
Mr Fazal said: “The society’s vision is to be nationally recognised for having a very simple range of great value products delivered by real human beings, no call centres and no convoluted tick box exercises.
“Every mortgage case is individually underwritten and we wanted to continue with that through the Mortgage Market Review.
“Our product set was very simple but the onset of advice means that we do have to look slightly further than a simple SVR (standard variable rate) product so we have developed a range of fixed rate products and we have also got buy-to-let because Cumbria is the sort of place where people want to buy second homes, etc.”
In a video interview with FTAdviser’s Emma Ann Hughes, Mr Fazal said: “We have always been a national lender but our prime focus has been Cumbria. We understand the business really well. We understand our borrowers really well.
“We have made it very clear that we do lend nationally but we back each mortgage with a personal service and I think there is still a great need for that.”