Metro Bank in intermediary mortgage pilot

As Metro Bank celebrates its second birthday today (29 June 2012) it has announced its entry into the intermediary mortgage market, in addition to distributing mortgages through its stores.

A pilot programme will provide residential mortgages for properties in London and the South East through broker John Charcol. It will work to a quota to ensure that Metro Bank can maintain service standards.

Metro Bank is also in active discussions with a small number of other brokers with plans to extend availability over the next few months.

In line with the pilot, Metro Bank has launched a range of intermediary products with a range of LTVs to a maximum of 80%, designed for higher value properties.

Metro Bank will manually underwrite every application, taking into account individual personal circumstances and making allowances for factors such as irregular income.

Paul Marriott-Clarke, Metro Bank's commercial director, commented: "Metro Bank is committed to building a long term and highly successful intermediary business that provides both our partners and our customers with amazing customer service.

“With John Charcol's reputation as a leading intermediary in the high value space, they were the obvious choice to launch with. By partnering with a small number of intermediary partners, we ensure that we are able to give a consistently high level of service to all.

“Metro Bank offers common sense banking with the personal touch and our individual underwriting service means that we will consider cases which would typically fail the automated credit scorecards used by many lenders.”

Walter Avrili, managing director of John Charcol, said: "We are delighted that Metro Bank has chosen John Charcol to launch its intermediary proposition.  The addition of such a lender who is focused on unparalleled service and transparent products can only be a good thing for our clients and indeed all UK mortgage borrowers."