A survey reveals that 83.7% of brokers believe BDMs play a vital role in the industry today.

These findings were part of Smart Money People’s H2 2023 Mortgage Lender Benchmark covering mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the second half of 2023.

The latest bi-annual independent research study comprises feedback from over 790 mortgage brokers, providing 3,666 individual pieces of feedback on 105 lenders.

Further insight found that 32.2% of brokers said they typically first hear about a lender and what they offer from BDMs, with only product sourcing scoring higher (35%).

In addition, when asking brokers what they’d consider as their most valuable form of support service to serve clients effectively, 37.3% said BDMs, beating the likes of dedicated phone lines, webinars and live chat.

Whilst the majority of brokers (43.3%) were happy, over a third (36.4%) said they didn’t feel their lender gave enough BDM support, with the rest unsure.

Finally, one area that that came in for a lot of attention is the move from in-person BDMs to telephone-based BDMs, and less availability on the road and although some brokers seemed comfortable with this change, many blamed the apparent problems with availability and accessibility on the lack of in-person support.

Smart Money People chief executive Jacqueline Dewey comments: “It’s clear that brokers still value the role of BDMs and although they understand the need for lenders to evolve, moving too quickly to a hybrid approach is a concern and can damage that lender’s relationship with its brokers.

She adds: “Lenders who can excel in providing superior BDM support with BDMs who have good case knowledge, along with being readily available and accessible will stand out from the crowd.”