The Intermediary –- June 2026 - Flipbook - Page 27
I N P RO F I L E
such as quirky income, acreage, outbuildings,
unusual credit, and reminds brokers that it is
“worth the conversation with us, because while we
don’t do bespoke pricing, we’re willing to consider
different things.”
Rebuilding broker relationships
While staying true to its community roots is a core
part of Furness’ approach, heritage alone is not
enough to hold a place in the modern landscape.
Flexibility, evolving criteria, and a willingness to
take real borrowers into account may not always
be enough to get brokers in the door. Indeed, the
mutual’s local focus has been a stumbling block.
Cartlidge says: “There was definitely a
messaging issue. We want to reiterate: we’re a
national lender, and we lend in Scotland, and we
do some quirky property types as well.”
Relationship-led lending and manual
underwriting only work if those relationships
remain strong. Cartlidge says: “One of our key
brand values is ‘togetherness’. We talk a lot about
building relationships together. There should be
a trust handoff between broker and lender. If a
broker has spent all this time building trust with a
client, then we need to continue that experience.”
It is not always possible for a lender to
function exactly how a broker might like. For
example, funding restrictions mean that Furness
is sometimes unable to guarantee long notice
periods in advance of product withdrawals.
Nevertheless, Cartlidge says the lender does
what it can to be pragmatic and flexible, and that
“if a case is already in discussion or progressing,
we try really hard not to just shut the door.”
Furness’ broader broker engagement strategy
includes investing heavily in its database and
customer relationship management (CRM)
structure, to address brokers’ frustrations with
irrelevant communication. The lender has also
changed how its BDM team engages. Field-based
BDMs, for example, do not just turn up and
present a PowerPoint, but will work from brokers’
offices, “pop up on the end of the desk for a day,”
and be there to answer questions and find out how
these businesses function.
Furness has also started experimenting with
more informal events, hosting brokers at bars and
social spaces to foster “great conversations” in a
more relaxed atmosphere. The mutual also uses
quarterly customer satisfaction surveys with its
broker cohort to get “first-hand feedback on how
it feels to be a broker, and particularly, how it feels
to be a broker dealing with us.”
Selective adoption, careful scaling
Broker outreach is a key part of Furness’ approach
to scaling its activity without losing its DNA.
Furness is not afraid of technology, as many
assume building societies to be, but it is cautious.
It started with the need to reduce manual rekeying
between the different systems at play, which
“don’t necessarily talk to one another,” and to
handle “processes in the background that are just
a bit slow and cumbersome.”
For Cartlidge, the adoption of technology should
be part of an effort to streamline processes and
develop internal infrastructure for the good of the
lender, broker and borrower, rather than simply
because tools seem to make things cheaper and
easier in the short term.
Furness, like the rest of the world, is also
considering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in
its operations. This includes “trialling multiple AI
systems internally” and “watching [the market]
with absolute bated breath.”
Cartlidge says: “We have a team of manual
underwriters, so not only will our BDMs talk to you
about your case up front, but in 100% of cases it
will sit with a human to look at it.”
The modern mutual
Every lender is facing the challenge of navigating
choppy waters in 2026. Arguably none more so
than building societies, which do not have the
freedom of wide margins, by their nature.
Success in any market can also come with
downsides. Cartlidge explains: “If we happen to be
‘top of the shop’ for too long, we’re in trouble. We
can’t service that kind of volume, and our service
would go below where [brokers] expect it to be.”
Providing the best service might mean being
honest enough to tell brokers when Furness is
not the right lender. Cartlidge says: “Sometimes,
we have to make tough decisions, but we’ve got
to be honest about it. Sometimes we will make a
mistake, but we’ll apologise and learn from it.”
To keep up Furness’ place in both the local and
national markets, Cartlidge cites a “commitment to
be fleet of foot, to react quicker,” adding that there
may have been times where “we have been guilty
of not really living up to that brief.”
Brokers should keep an eye on Furness’
proposition, as “criteria is changing, affordability
is changing, our underwriting process is changing,
and we’re developing products in the background.”
As for the market itself, Cartlidge does
not profess to know how the future of work,
affordability, housing prices and mortgage lending
is going to play out. What he does suggest is that
quirky properties, self-builds and prefabricated or
modular constructed buildings are going to come
further to the fore.
Cartlidge concludes: “We don’t know where
the market is going, but we’ll be there, ready
to react.”
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