Mortgages for Business has appointed Peter Barnes to head its intermediary arm.

Barnes has been at the company for two years as a consultant and in his new role he will relaunch and expand the broker’s packaging service.

He will report to chief operating officer Gavin Richardson.

Barnes says: “IFAs or accountants can handle residential cases with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their backs but with high street lenders not as proactive as they were, their usual ports of call for commercial mortgages, bridging loans, property development finance and complex buy-to-let mortgages have dried up.  

“If they don’t have the expertise, access or time, we can place their deals for them.  

“Our knowledge and experience allow us to deliver an exemplary experience for them and their clients.  

“We will work with them, the lender and associated third parties, leaving them to work with their client.  

“On the packager side, we can do both the decision in principle and the full mortgage application for them, then keep them updated as the case progresses via a dedicated consultant and client relationship manager via direct dial telephone numbers and emails.”

Richardson says: “This is an important development in our approach to the broker-to-broker space.  

“Peter’s been a consultant mortgage broker here since June 2019.  

“He has over 29 years experience within a corporate high street bank. He’s worked in roles including underwriting, internal audit and project management.  

“He’s been a relationship manager for 16 years, dealing with the day-to-day lending requirements of a portfolio of 250 SMEs.  

“He understands deals from all angles and, perhaps more importantly, consistently delivers successful outcomes.  

“He’s the right man to relaunch our intermediary offer.  

“Not only is Peter the right man to refresh MfB for Intermediaries, this is also the right time to do it.  

“High street lenders have made so many relationship managers redundant in their rush to telephony that IFAs and accountants no longer have a point of contact to place commercial cases direct.  

“While he’ll be pitching the packager service at brokers who already know the lender they want to use but can’t submit applications directly themselves, Peter’s deal placement service will be aimed at those less experienced, time-pressed intermediaries looking to partner with a master broker who can source the right lender and structure a successful deal.  

“I’m confident with the right person in charge, we have the contacts, the negotiating skills and the determination to get the deal done!”