10 Years On – Loan Portfolio Reviews
With several lenders using the acquisition of high-quality loan portfolios to support their growth aspirations, we are proud to have been involved with successful bidders for loan books for over 10 years. With some books being acquired at a slight discount to book value, the detailed file reviews which provide information and data to assist […]
Interest only – has inertia set in?
We have commentated on this topic several times before and undoubtedly some progress has been made by lenders, but recently mortgage portfolio trades have contained large proportions of interest only loans and there has also been a renewed focus by the FCA. Despite some commentators suggesting that this issue is a low risk one, the […]
Lending growth in an uncertain economic environment
The mortgage market never seems to stand still! On the funding side in the last few weeks we have seen further applications for banking licences, increases in funding lines and significant securitisation issuance. On the credit side, we are seeing aggressive product pricing, credit risk expansion and the return of the off-site underwriter. These are […]
Yabber website launch
Rockstead Group has expanded its support for businesses with the launch of a wholly owned subsidiary, Yabber Global. Yabber has been created to satisfy a specific need for audit and process improvement in customer contact centres. Rockstead has a significant number of years’ experience helping various financial services businesses review their call centre operations in […]
Mortgage lending – managing workflow and margins
2019 has been an interesting year for mortgage lenders and despite generally pessimistic predictions at the end of 2018, most lenders we work with seem satisfied with their net book growth. However, three factors have presented lenders with significant challenges this year; the management of flow rates, net interest margins and cost controls. Flow rates: […]
Car Loans – mis-selling exposed?
Since the passing of the deadline for the submission of PPI mis-selling claims, the popular media and trade press have been awash with suggested areas that Claims Management Companies [CMCs] will move into next. Whatever you think about CMCs, it seems that the financial services industry can quite easily provide them with plenty of opportunities […]
Mortgage fraud on the rise
The year is shaping up to be a challenging one for many lenders. So far, we have seen a widening of criteria, increases in risk layering and loosening of underwriting controls as firms attempt to achieve lending volume objectives. At the same time, competition has forced prices down, squeezing already tight margins. Sometimes we wonder […]
Stress testing
The core thrust of the Bank of England annual cyclical stress test focuses on the 7 major UK banks and building societies who present a systemic risk to the stability of the UK financial system. All other sector firms must also design their own specific stress testing system. To enable this analysis, the PRA publishes […]
Bank of England messaging
It is not surprising that many businesses, and the media, hang on every word that comes out of the Bank of England. It seems that the appetite for news in the mortgage trade press is unsatisfiable and that the daily news machine often contains conflicting analysis of the same outputs. As an example, two recent […]
Peer to peer – ready for a shake up
The peer to peer [P2P] lending market has never been without controversy; despite being regulated by the FCA from April 2014 when it took over the regulation of consumer credit from the OFT. As early as 2016, the FCA launched a review of its regulation of the crowdfunding sector and that review resulted in additional […]
