Greenacre Financial Services is urging other brokers to learn British Sign Language in order to better serve the deaf community.

The firm, which is an appointed representative of JLM, says that people with hearing loss are currently under-served by the mortgage broker market.

Its managing director Greg Stanworth is calling for other adviser businesses to train staff in sign language in order to widen access to advice.

In order to reach more deaf clients, Greenacre staff member Matt Butler has filmed an introductory video in sign language explaining the service on offer.

Greenacre managing director Greg Stanworth says: “I am so proud that we are able to offer advice to clients who are hard of hearing or deaf. 

“It’s great to be able to reach out to a wider audience and to help individuals feel more comfortable in what can be a challenging area. “Having observed Matt, our specialist, communicate with a deaf client, it was wonderful to see how happy and relieved they were when discussing their mortgage needs with someone able to sign.

“We are extremely passionate about helping these under-served clients and would urge other firms to look at what they might do in this area.”

JLM head of mortgage finance Sebastian Murphy says: “Diversity and inclusion has taken on new meaning in the mortgage advice market, particularly over the course of the last few years, and it is wonderful to see Greenacre leading the way in terms of the advice services it can provide to hard of hearing and deaf people. 

“I think we would all agree that we have potentially neglected the needs of these clients and we are fully behind Greenacre’s campaign to ensure more people receive the advice they are entitled to. 

“We’ll be sharing this with all JLM AR firms and would hope it acts as a catalyst for other advisory firms to offer similar services.”