FR: You recently gained FCA approval and Principal status – what does this mean for you and your partners?
Firstly it’s great recognition for everyone on team Quint and we are clearly extremely proud at being the first in our space to become Directly Authorised and achieving Principal Firm Status. The congratulations we have received across the board from stakeholders has been over whelming.
What it means for Quint is that our strategy and investment over the past 18 months/2 years has been proven as sound and we now have the trading platform from a regulatory perspective to continue to dominate in our chosen markets and achieve our goals for Q4 2015 and on into 2016.
For our stakeholders on all sides of the supply line it serves to confirm our position as the trusted partner in this space and we have seen both the lender community and origination communities seeking to grow their relationship with Quint as result of our FCA achievement and there are many new initiatives in the pipeline as a result.
FR: You have also rebranded from Quintessential to Quint – what do you hope to achieve over the coming years?
Firstly Quintessential Finance Group is a bit of a mouthful. As we move into new markets and territories it was time to adopt a more contemporary brand name that was more representative of the culture and also of the diverse markets, territories and verticals we now operate in.
In addition, we all refer to the business as Quint as do most of our partners so the move was a natural one.
FR: How do you see the market changing over the next 12 months?
We see our competitor set falling away in number as the regulatory effect begins to bite and only those focussed on the best outcome for the customer will prevail.
There will be some consolidation in HCST as lenders jockey for position and seek volume growth and we expect to see acquisitions within the lender space.
Consumer choice will improve as lenders continue to move to higher loan amounts and terms beyond 12 months. This in turn will stimulate growth in the market and Quint's acquisition channels will drive consumer awareness creating more opportunity for our affiliate networks and origination partners across the board.
FR: You recently expanded your Pingtree technology into the insurance sector. How important is it to develop within the industry and what benefits will it bring?
New products and new territories features large on our 2016 roadmap and moving into the insurance space is just one of the new initiatives you will see from the Quint stable during 2016.
Our insurance origination and distribution function is performing strongly for the year and goes to show how agile we are as an organisation.
In terms of performance, we are exceeding targets that we thought were a stretch at the start of 2015 and are pleased with how the move into this vertical has developed to date. Our plan is to double volumes from where we are today by the end of Q1 2016.
FR: If you weren’t in financial services, what would you be doing?
Sitting on my boat!
