The Intermediary – January 2026 - Flipbook - Page 23
S TAT E O F T H E N AT I O N
Feature
product transfer market, and the power of the
intermediary is proactivity and the ability to
and hopefully this will continue this year.
At PMS, we think 2026 is going to feel better
do a whole-of-market search to ensure that the
than 2025. We’re expecting a good acquisition
customer ends up with the best possible outcome.
market with housing transactions to broadly
The relaxation of stress testing rules saw
hold up, but the actual value of those housing
lenders start to innovate last year and introduce
transactions to be slightly higher. We’re also
higher loan-to-income (LTI) products, and my
expecting some modest house price growth, and
wish for 2026 is for more please! We’ve seen the
with interest rates continuing to fall, further
return of 100% mortgages, which has been great
affordability improvements.
to see, and I’d like to see the same innovation and
flexibility applied to self-employed borrowing,
particularly in the HNW space.
Similarly, we’re hoping to see more innovation
in the protection market. There’s so much more
we could be offering beyond income protection
As one of the UK’s largest mortgage clubs,
we’re committed to supporting ambitious firms
to grow and evolve. Technology and AI will play a
central role in how we do that in 2026.
Last year, AI moved from being experimental
to playing a much bigger role for some in
and critical illness. We’re seeing lenders
terms of infrastructure. We’re seeing advisers
launching new products to meet specialist
really starting to think differently about how
needs, and it would be fantastic to see that in the
they leverage it. We also started to see lenders
protection space too.
On regulation, there are two really big pieces
using it in different ways and new propositions
come to market. As a result, there have been
coming up in the Mortgage Market Review
improvements and efficiencies in processes, both
and the Protection Market Study. We’re yet to
lender and provider-side.
understand the output of them, so it will be
As some of our PMS advisers outline later in
interesting to see what is delivered in 2026.
this feature, AI isn’t the death of the adviser. AI
What’s important from any future regulation is
is going to become a way of living, providing
that we maintain the fundamentals of Consumer
the tools that underpin everything we do. Firms
Duty, with the customer sitting in the middle of
should be thinking about where it can fit into
any proposed changes.
Our priorities for 2026 are to support our
advisers by simplifying tasks with the aid of
technology and artificial intelligence (AI), so
business processes, and how they can use them
to improve client engagement.
Like Toni, I believe there’s an opportunity
to take a more holistic approach to financial
they can go faster, spend more time with clients,
planning. There are fundamental changes
and continue to be proactive with advice and
coming through for inheritance tax planning,
guidance, enabling them to harness the growth
with pensions going to be included, and that
opportunities ahead.
opens up a real opportunity for brokers to
talk about how the client is protected in that
Introduction by Claire
Cherrington, director at PMS/
Bankhall
situation. And I think what you could see,
particularly in the wealth market, is independent
financial advisers (IFAs) coming closer together
with the mortgage market to provide the right
solutions for clients.
If I was to sum up 2025, I would
say it was very much a year of adjustment in
the market. We saw lots of repricing, with lots
of rebalancing between product transfers and
remortgages, and that’s a very different backdrop
to what we’ve seen previously.
We saw affordability improving as a result of
base rate reductions, and the changes in stress
rates that the Financial Conduct Authority
(FCA) brought in, but that didn’t necessarily
play through into customer confidence. A key
role for intermediaries in 2026 will be helping
clients feel confident about decisions that they’re
making and to reassure them now is a good time
to get on or move up the property ladder. It was
positive to see first-time buyers accounting for
a higher percentage of residential transactions,
p
