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The system, Imail, is available for use by the lender's business development managers and allows them to send personalised messages to their intermediary contacts.

It allows BDMs to send messages to either selected individuals or firms or to all of their contacts, choosing from a variety of templates.

They can also personalise the message and adapt it by adding in attachments like mortgage portfolios and lending criteria or by putting in banners to run across the bottom of the screen.

Jill Butterwood, intermediary transformation manager for Alliance & Leicester, said: "Imail allows our BDMs to tailor information to an individual's needs, and who better to decide what is useful than the local BDM who has regular contact with their intermediary customers.

"We are continually looking at new ways to further improve our communications with advisers and we believe they are more likely to open emails from a contact they know personally and have a working relationship with, rather than from a generic Alliance & Leicester email address.

"This means our intermediary customers can find out about new initiatives that benefit them more quickly, which in turn can help them to work more efficiently."

Michael Brill, director of Essex-based IFA Baronworth Investment Services Limited, said: "This is a brilliant idea and I am sure it will go down well with intermediaries. It is nice to know that some lenders appear to care.

"This will be good for relationships with our BDMs and it shows Alliance & Leicester is trying to to improve on how it deals with advisers."