The Intermediary – March 2026 - Flipbook - Page 38
Meet
eet The BDM
Paragon
The Intermediary speaks with Gary Dean, business development
manager (BDM) at Paragon
How and why did you
become a BDM?
I have been working in the mortgage
industry since 2013. I moved into
the sector after seven years in
recruitment. I started out as a
telephone BDM at Santander and
then moved to Together. The natural
progression was to be a field-based
BDM, with my first role coming
in 2017.
What brought you
to Paragon?
A fellow BDM I used to work
with mentioned that the current
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The Intermediary | March 2026
incumbent was looking to retire, so
made me aware of the upcoming
vacancy. It is very rare that these
types of vacancies arise, as my
predecessor was in the role for
many years.
Having worked for a number of
specialist buy-to-let (BTL) lenders,
Paragon has always stood out.
As a pioneer of buy-to-let with
over 30 years’ experience in the
sector, you could say buy-to-let is in
the bank’s DNA.
For me, a draw was working
so closely with our intermediary
partners to bring innovative products
to the market.
A recent example would be the
Base Rate Tracker product we
launched last year. We originally
launched 5-year products and, after
feedback from brokers, we extended
this to offer 2-year loans, too.
With no early repayment charges
(ERCs) and the expectation that Base
Rate will come down this year, these
products are already proving popular
with landlords.
What makes Paragon
stand out?
The longevity of the company in such
a demanding, and at times turbulent,
market stands out massively.
With the length of time we have
been in the market, it is important to
evolve. This is why we’re continually
looking to improve.
