Chris Blewitt of Darlington Building Society summed up the sector’s growing role – and how it is innovating where other lenders may not be, noting: “The mortgage market is asking new questions, and outside of the building society sector, people keep rolling out the same answers.”
Blewitt was joined by Tom Denman-Molloy (Mansfield BS), Claire Askham (Buckinghamshire BS), and Jeremy Duncombe (Accord Mortgages), who all pointed to a surge in demand for lenders who can handle complexity.
Denman-Molloy noted that borrowers today often have multiple income streams, impaired credit, or unusual property types. “We manually unwrap all of our cases,” he said. “We’re seeing more quirky scenarios, and that’s where we thrive.”
Askham added that the ability to deal with individual circumstances is what sets building societies apart: “We love a story. It’s about understanding the customer’s full picture and making a decision based on that.”
According to BSA data, building societies were behind 72% of mortgage market growth between March and September 2023. “That figure was 100% the year before,” Blewitt said. “If you removed building societies from the market, net growth would have been flat.”
Despite being huge drivers of growth in recent years, the panel agreed that building societies can no longer rely on general promises of flexibility and manual underwriting. “We’ve had to get much sharper at saying what we do – and what we don’t do,” said Blewitt. “That gives brokers more confidence when placing complex cases.”
Askham echoed that sentiment, explaining that with larger lenders moving into specialist spaces, mutuals need to carve out their own niches. “We’ve just launched 75% LTV on impaired credit,” she said. “It’s about spotting the gaps and innovating quickly.”
Keen to demonstrate that mutuals were moving with the times on more than just products, the panel was clear that change is coming when it comes to tech, where they have historically lagged behind. Mansfield BS, for example, is currently overhauling its front- and back-end systems with direct input from brokers. “It’ll allow us to drastically speed up time to offer without losing that manual touch,” said Denman-Molloy.
Duncombe dismissed the idea that building societies don’t invest in technology: “We absolutely do. We just need our systems to be more flexible to match our underwriting.”
Blewitt also pointed out that tech providers are increasingly engaging with mutuals. “We’re now seeing them come to us, rather than us chasing them. That’s a big shift.”
The panel concluded with one clear message to the advice community: don’t overlook what building societies can do.
“We’re lenders. We’re not just ‘building societies’ – we’re part of the full lending solution,” said Duncombe. “Understand what we each do – there’s huge diversity in our offerings.”
Askham added: “When we’re talking to you – through trade press, events, or your BDMs – it’s because we’ve got something to help solve a problem. Don’t miss that opportunity.”
