Ten Years Strong: Celebrating a decade of service excellence
It feels surreal to be writing this 10 years on, reflecting on our journey. Back in 2013, TSB Bank re-emerged as a standalone entity, marking its return to the UK banking landscape. Shortly after, an Intermediary arm for TSB was established. An experienced leadership team from across the industry was assembled to build a 26 strong BDM and 10 TBDM team. Working together across the new Bank to build Mortgage Operations, an Underwriting team, along with enhancements to our Mortgage Products team and Credit function, all with the goal of establishing TSB as a key player in the sector.
Over the past decade, TSB has made significant strides in this arena, achieving notable milestones and overcoming challenges.
In 2014, our initial strategy was to establish solid relationships with mortgage brokers and intermediaries, emphasising service quality and competitive product offerings. This approach quickly garnered attention, leading to a substantial increase in mortgage applications. By the first half of 2015, TSB had achieved £1.9 billion worth of mortgage applications, reflecting the market’s positive response to its service proposition. Finishing our first year we provided 25,000 mortgages through our Intermediary partners and won our first two 5 Star Financial Advisor Service Awards.
The success continued into the second year where we were recognised as the fastest growing Intermediary lender whilst remaining steadfast to our core strategy; for you to trust us with your business - 87% of you told us you do.
At launch, TSB adopted a controlled distribution approach with just 12 Networks and 60 DA firms. Whilst we still adopt this approach, we’ve gradually widened our reach to 1200 active firms on the panel today. This measured expansion has allowed us to establish and refine our service proposition over the years. It’s enabled us to identify where we can enhance elements of our proposition and criteria to ensure we maintain relevance in the ever-changing market, including the introduction of Product Transfers and Further Advances. Our most recent enhancements have seen us offering tailored underwriting support to our brokers dealing with High-Net-Worth customers in the large loan and interest only space, something we’re very proud of.
It’s clear we have firmly established ourselves in the intermediary mortgage market, with over 300,000 mortgages provided over the last 10 years. We’ve continued to build on our reputation for service excellence and strong broker relationships. As we look to the future, we remain committed to supporting intermediaries and their customers, continually adapting to the evolving needs of the market.
Reflecting on the past 10 years, I’m incredibly proud of the TSB Intermediary team (past and present) and our collaboration with the rest of the Bank to deliver positive outcomes for our mutual customers with dedication and integrity. The market has not always been kind to us, and the pandemic showed us what we can achieve when we pull together with a mindset of growth and resilience. We couldn't have achieved all of this without our Intermediary partners.
Thank you for trusting us with your business. Here's to the next 10 years.
Beverley Bradford
TSB Mortgage Intermediaries