Skipton Intermediaries has launched a “real-life lending charter” to help brokers and advisers, Paul Darwin has said.
The head of intermediary relationships for Skipton said the charter would carry four pledges to “represent a commonsense approach to real-life lending” as the centrepiece of a branding update.
One of the pledges is no dual pricing unless it is in brokers’ favour. Skipton says it guarantees that brokers’ clients will not find a better deal by approaching it directly while it will on occasion offer products only available through brokers.
The building society has also pledged it will not cross-sell, or proactively market home or life insurance to brokers’ clients.
It has vowed to commit to a five-working day period to submit pipeline business to be given following product withdrawal. Finally, it has pledged to be timely, clear and straight talking in communications.
Mr Darwin said that it had also made its website more relevant for brokers.
The charter was the outcome of 18 months of research with its intermediary partners.
Mr Darwin said: “Skipton Intermediaries has had much more than a facelift. We have made substantial, forward-thinking developments, motivated by an overwhelming desire to put brokers at the centre of everything we do.
“A great deal of time has been invested in getting under the skin of our broker partners, key distributors and customers to really understand what they want and need from us. For the last year they have been taking the time to give us their insight on how we can help add value to their business.”
Adviser view
The charter won the praise of Philip Perry, director of Stalybridge-based Ark Financial Planning.
“A five-day period in which to submit pipeline business is a splendid idea and could be really advantageous for them as a company,” he said, adding: “if I pass work to someone I wouldn’t want them to approach clients directly, as it would devalue my proposition.”
“Anything that allows us to work closely with them and retain our own client base is going to be an advantage.
