A new lender is aiming to do for the mortgage industry what Direct Line did for insurance, disrupting the status quo with a completely digital proposition.
In advance of its launch in around eight weeks time, BlueZest has put together a team of experienced financial and technology sector professionals, all aimed at delivering a mortgage decision within 30 minutes.
Led by chief executive Russell Gould - who helped build digital advice precursor Charcol Online over a decade ago - the firm will begin in the unregulated space while it works through the regulatory application process.
This means an initial product range of buy-to-let, smaller-scale property development and SME secured loans.
These can be applied for online, on any device, in around 15 minutes, with an ESIS decision in principle offered after initial data collection. Automated valuations will be sufficient for between 50 to 60 per cent of cases, according to Mr Gould, so this will mean the only charge occurs when a consumer agrees to go ahead.
A £125 fee will be charged at this stage, which gives access to a call credit solution application, giving access to the potential borrower’s bank account. The rest of the process will be done on a “completely transparent” traffic light system, with only the deed requiring a wet signature.
The company was born out of a frustration with current archaic practices Russell Gould“The company was born out of a frustration with current archaic practices and a desire to create a range of innovative mortgages, supported by an online application process that is more transparent, more efficient and simpler for both intermediaries and their clients,” stated Mr Gould.
The mortgage and secured loan products have initially been designed to help support the intermediary sector, including mortgage and commercial brokers, packagers, networks, clubs and accountants.
Around 25 such firms are currently going through due diligence, with many of those having already helped design the initial product range.
“We have been in constant dialogue with a number of participating brokers and intermediaries over the past few months to ensure we create products and processes that will help them to deliver solutions that their clients want in a fraction of the time,” explained Mr Gould.
“We see them as our partners and will constantly work with them to adapt and evolve our offering,” he continued, adding: “In-turn, our technology, gives intermediaries back valuable time so that they can do what they do best – advise their clients.”
The BlueZest leadership team includes chief risk officer Simon Baum, who was mortgage risk director and deputy chief credit officer at Santander and developed credit risk analytics at Experian as UK consultancy services director.
Chief financial officer is Duncan Bain, who spent eight years in Arthur Andersen’s financial markets division in London, along with 12 years at Aviva, and most recently, seven years as finance director at the Cambridge Building Society.
Chief technology officer and a founding member of BlueZest, John Robinson, co-founded IRP - which was purchased by BlueZest - helping both lenders and credit bureaus develop their data and decision capabilities.
Another founding member of the firm, funding director Robert Ainscow entered banking in 1999 and helped Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns and Investec Bank with funding and refinancing of mortgage assets.
Chris Slater is the other founding member and both the chief operating and chief information officer, having racked up 20 years’ experience as a chartered systems engineer with as a founding partner of IRP.
Finally, Sue Colquhoun is the firm’s director of risk and compliance, coming from over 25 years in a legal, compliance or risk capacity at director level and in FCA approved positions.
peter.walker@ft.com
