MORTGAGE STRATEGY
LEADERS FORUM

Peter has been the Director of Customer Propositions - Retirement Lending for Just since April 2015. In this role he leads product management/development and strategic development of the retirement lending business. He has been with the Just Group for almost eight years and prior to this he was the Director of Group Strategy. Peter has worked in financial services for over 30 years at the Just Group, Skandia (part of Old Mutual plc) and Barclays plc across a range of segments including both retail and corporate banking, investments and wealth management.

Rebekah Commane joined as Editor of Mortgage Strategy in September 2016 and oversees all editorial content in the magazine and online. Prior to this Rebekah worked as a freelance journalist, and helped to launch the website Specialist Lending Solutions. She is also the former Deputy Editor of What Mortgage and Mortgage Finance Gazette.

Kate succeeded Peter Williams as IMLA’s Executive Director in January 2018. She has spent 27-years working with various financial services trade associations, principally the Building Societies Association and Council of Mortgage Lenders. She has also served as a Non-Executive Director with Darlington Building Society and currently chairs the Property Codes Compliance Board.

Ms. Dijkstra has been Director of Strategic Partnerships at Lloyds Banking Group plc since December 1, 2015. She is an instrumental in the launch of 'Scottish Widows Protect' into the intermediary market. She began her career in management consultancy with IBM in the Netherlands and moved to the UK in 2000. She served for Legal & General, where she served as Commercial and Marketing Director of the L&G Network and UK Mortgage Club.

Tony Hall is Sales & Marketing Director at Secure Trust Bank Mortgages and is responsible for sales and distribution, product design and marketing strategy. Tony joined Secure Trust Bank from the West Brom, where he was Head of Distribution and responsible for all sales channels. In a financial services career spanning over 30 years he has a wealth of experience having worked for a number of banks and building societies including One Savings Bank, Skipton, Barclays and HSBC.

Peter has over 25 years experience in financial services and the mortgage intermediary market. Before joining Investec Private Bank in January 2015, Peter has held a number of senior positions at HBOS, GMAC-RFC, start-up lender Portillion, Saffron Building Society and Harrods Bank. 

Peter is responsible for building the profile and lending volumes of Investec Private Bank high net worth mortgage offering within the intermediary market. He is regularly quoted in the mortgage trade and national press and writes numerous blogs and articles for the broker community. He also undertakes presentations and seminars to large audiences on the high net worth mortgage market.

Rob is CEO of the multi-award-winning specialist distributor, Brightstar, which since launch has originated over £2 Billion of specialist property debt and won over 40 national industry awards including the 2016 ‘Gold Employer of the Year’ in the Global IiP Awards. Rob innovated the concept of stand along specialist teams in the distinct product areas of residential mortgages, BTL, second charges, bridging, commercial and development finance. Rob is a key voice within the sector and as such provides support to the FCA through ongoing discussions on current and future market issues.

Rob is a four times BMA winner and was voted Mortgage Personality of the Year at the Mortgage Strategy Awards in 2012.

Sally Laker has more than 30 years’ experience in the finance industry and has managed Mortgage Intelligence successfully for 22 years. Growing the business both organically and by acquisition, her strategic vision has built a resilient, high-quality business comprising of 3 mortgage networks and a well-established mortgage club, Next Intelligence.

Sally has also previously served on the AMI board for 5 years before becoming Deputy Chairperson for the Small Business Practitioners Panel for the FCA for 6 years representing the mortgage sector.

Dean was involved from inception over 20 years ago with setting up Key Retirement, now re-branded as Key. Launched in 1998 Key is the leading over 55’s specialist adviser. Key are a retirement specialist and are the UK’s number 1 equity release adviser and now also specialise in wider Retirement Lending advice. Dean is responsible for overseeing much of the technical and advice aspects of the business in his role as Chief Product Officer for the group. Dean regularly appears in the press and on TV and radio as a specialist across the retirement lending sector.

In 2009 Andrew was one of the main founders of Coreco where he is the Director responsible for Brand, Marketing and Communications, as well as looking after all lender liaison.

As Coreco’s Media Spokesperson Andrew can often be seen or heard on TV & Radio as well as regularly commenting in the national, local and trade press.

More commonly known as "Monty" he is the author of a highly acclaimed Mortgage Blog, presenter of a monthly podcast and regular industry columnist.

Winner of several industry awards, Andrew is also a proud Board Member of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries and continues to work at the coal face, writing mortgage business and advising clients.

Esther Morley is Managing Director of Secure Trust Bank Mortgages and was responsible for establishing and subsequently growing the mortgage business at the Bank. Esther joined Secure Trust Bank from Kensington Mortgages, where she was Commercial Director, responsible for all aspects of originations and portfolio performance for the Specialist Mortgage business. Having also held roles at Investec, HSBC and HFC, Esther has over 24 years of experience in UK financial services, 12 of which have been served within the mortgage industry.

Chris joined HSBC in 2014 as Regional Wealth Director, responsible for wealth and mortgage distribution within the branch network. At the same time, he set up the UK distribution team for HSBC Intermediary Mortgages, which now has full UK BDM coverage and a dedicated inbound telephony team with access to 80% of the broker market.

Chris has previously held senior positions in the broker market as Director of RBS Intermediary Partners, Head of Sales and Marketing at BM Solutions and Head of National Accounts & New Build at Halifax Intermediaries.

Robert helped establish the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) as an independent entity on 1 February 2012. Robert joined the former parent trade body, AIFA, in October 2006, initially looking after the Association of Finance Brokers and since 2008, AMI. He looks after the day-to-day running of AMI and AFB by delivering member information and services, lobbying regulators and policy-makers and developing press relations.

He brings a wealth of industry experience to the trade body having held a number of front line sales roles combined with experience in marketing, training and internal audit in HSBC and Santander.

Robert is also a non-executive director of the Buckinghamshire Building Society.

Chief Executive Officer and founder of Connect Mortgages and Connect for Intermediaries, Liz has been providing mortgage and financial advice for over 20 years. Liz and her team over of 30 staff specialise in arranging mortgages and in particular, helping landlords to build their portfolios. In 2012 Liz set up the specialist buy-to-let and commercial network that now supports over 100 mortgage brokers and also offers a packaging and referral services catering for the DAs and ARs of other Networks that need help with their specialist cases. 

A colourful figure within the mortgage industry, David is renowned for telling it like it is. He established Mortgages for Business in 1990 and has grown the company into a successful independent brokerage which regularly wins prominent industry awards.

David’s knowledge and experience of property investment finance is unsurpassed, as such, he is frequently asked to speak to landlords, brokers and lenders about the shape of the market. Journalists are also interested in what he has to say and is often quoted in both the national and trade press.

David is also the CEO of lending brand Keystone Property Finance which offers a variety of different finance options to both residential and commercial landlords backed by funding from Aldermore Bank, Paratus AMC and Together Money.