It is not surprising, considering the big changes ahead.
As head of the mortgage network arm of Intrinsic Financial Services division, she has joined at a time when Old Mutual Wealth is being split apart from its parent firm and is gearing up for a rebrand and a float.
There might be a perception we are not as important, but we write shed loads of business, which is important to the Intrinsic modelGemma HarleThis has not slowed her plans, as networks face new and evolving threats.
One of the matters high on her list of priorities is helping her advisers beat fraudsters and money launderers.
Ms Harle said: “Fraudsters have shifted their approach in recent years and the kinds of frauds reported by the FCA are increasingly sophisticated.
“With these schemes on the rise it is crucial that mortgage brokers have controls in place to prevent their clients losing their hard-earned money. It is not just the adviser, but the advice that is involved."
She said that the mortgage network constantly has to make sure it is prepared against money laundering, "because the fraudsters are getting very sophisticated and property is quite intrinsically linked to money laundering”.
Ms Harle joined from rival advice network Tenet Lime and has the big job of ensuring Intrinsic’s mortgage and protection division gains more prominence. Following a strategic review in January 2017, Intrinsic Group launched a refreshed business model with three core operating channels: a wealth network, a mortgage network and a wealth national channel.
The wealth network is overseen by Steve Fryett who works closely with Ms Harle. The separate mortgage network was launched to give greater focus and support to its advisers.
The latest publicly available records showed the network had 1,564 brokers by the end of June 2017 – an increase from the 1,499 advisers it had at the end of 2014.
Ms Harle said: “What excites me about Intrinsic is the ambition. Wealth is very dominant in the business, and for the right reasons. There might be a perception we are not as important, but we write shed loads of business, which is important to the Intrinsic model.”
Robotic threat
Seeking opportunities for new products and helping advisers face the threat of robo-advice are among the actions the network has on its to-do list this year.
“Brokers are looking for help with technology and how they can generate more leads,” Ms Harle said. “They also want access to a wider variety of providers; not just lenders. They want access to conveyancers and all the bolt-on stuff, because of the way they are trying to service the customer.”
Growth areas this year, she predicts, will come from first-time buyers and larger commercial buy-to-let businesses.
Early indications show amateur landlords are starting to bail out, due to tax changes. That means they are selling properties, enabling first-time buyers to enter the market.
Ms Harle added: “In the short term, we are likely to see a shift to commercial buy-to-let. This market is different now, because of the Prudential Regulation Authority rules, but it will be strong and the share for the intermediary sector will be as strong as last year, if not stronger. Lenders have increased targets. If we hit that, it would double the market.”
As a result of lenders expanding, Ms Harle believes this will drive them to offer more digital solutions for simple products, enabling advisers to show their value as specialist brokers. Later-life lending and unconventional borrowing are key to mortgage brokers displaying specialism, she said. Self-employed individuals also need more support and there needs to be more innovation and inter-generational mortgages to help first-time buyers, she added.
Also, giving the network more resources, Ms Harle said, will highlight how mortgage advisers are key to capturing and retaining first-time buyer customers for Intrinsic as a whole.
“As you accumulate wealth, you go into investment advice, then long-term advice, so the mortgage part is so crucial,” Ms Harle said. “At the first interaction we can absolutely facilitate being able to retain that customer and provide the service to that customer throughout their whole life. That excites me.”
A circular culture
To do this, Ms Harle explained Intrinsic has a culture where advisers are happy to refer clients to each other in cases where the customer needs advice that their broker does not have permission to give.
She said: “Nobody owns the customer, but there are barriers and you have to trust whoever you are introducing them to and it has to complete the circle. The network is in a much better place to do that because you can manage it and can put like-minded businesses together.”
On the protection side, Ms Harle said more innovation is needed to keep up with the changing nature of working habits. A big part of the plan to strengthen the mortgage and protection division will involve pushing the new name, when Old Mutual rebrands as Quilter and as a result Intrinsic Group becomes Quilter Financial Planning.
Ms Harle said she did not anticipate any negative impact on advisers, stressing it will add to the strength of the offering.
Gemma Harle's Career Highlights
2017 – present: Managing director, mortgage and protection network at Intrinsic
2010 – 2017: Managing director, Tenet Lime
2005 – 2009: Managing director, Mortgage Next
1990 – 2004: Head of new business, Mortgage Trust
Ima Jackson-Obot is a features writer at Financial Adviser
