The Intermediary – October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 21
I N P RO F I L E
takes away from what we want to do as an
organisation, and what many building societies in
general are out there doing.
“We’re able to look at things individually and
assess it as a human being, rather than the
computer just putting all of the data in and going
‘if it’s no to any of this, then throw it out’.”
This approach helps the Marsden tackle an
increasingly uncertain world, where global conflict
has increased the need for an attentive eye on
currency fluctuations and economic stability.
The Marsden previously maintained both a
list of countries it would not consider, and a list
of countries it might consider, which Broome
says created more uncertainty for brokers. The
society has simplified this by referring to the
Financial Action Task Force’s black and grey lists.
Applications from countries not excluded are
assessed on their individual circumstances.
Many Marsden borrowers work in professional
sectors and have strong earning potential, and
are “quite highly resilient.” This means that while
the geopolitical situation calls for a nuanced
lending approach, expats continue to have strong
potential. They are also still looking to maintain
or gain a foothold in the UK property market –
perhaps more so now than ever.
Beyond the assumptions
Historically, the two categories that form the
Marsden’s specialism – expat and later life lending
– tended to be distinct. Now, as borrower
circumstances evolve and people take an
increasingly holistic approach to wealth, the
KATIE
two sectors are starting to overlap.
BROOME
“It’s incredible now how many later life
applicants we see residing abroad,”
Broome says. “Borrower profiles are
getting more diverse. We’ll even see
applicants who have spent their
entire career abroad now looking
to purchase or move back, or
there’s those later life customers
who have lived and worked in the
UK all their life and they want to
move abroad – their income’s all
in pensions, but they’re treated
as expats. We are seeing a lot of
specialist lending crossover.
“It’s about taking into
account a customer’s
overall circumstances,
rather than focusing
on a single
characteristic.”
Retirement itself is
changing, becoming
less a single point of
change, and more an ongoing transition as people
live longer and work beyond traditional retirement
ages. Income in retirement is also no longer
simple, coming from pensions, investments,
portfolios, savings or ongoing employment.
Increasingly, investors are seeing property
portfolios as their retirement provision. This is only
likely to become more important as generations
with defined contribution (DC) pensions start
to filter into later life. In this context, age-based
lending assumptions are no longer representative,
in much the same way as country-based decisions
do not do justice for expats.
This must, Broome says, be reflected in a shift
in perspective for brokers. The move away from
boxing borrowers up must start with the broker
gathering comprehensive information about all
income sources and financial arrangements, even
if it might not seem relevant straight away.
“We’ve then got the support team that can
assist,” Broome says. “We do get a lot of calls from
brokers dealing with, say, an expat for the first
time, who might not have dealt with that market
before. We’ll guide them through.”
This approach, while it may not provide instant
decisioning as expected in some vanilla cases,
is well-suited for complex cases that go beyond
straightforward criteria matching. Broome would
like to see more of this across the market, despite
the march to automation in many quarters.
“The market has made considerable progress,
but there is further opportunity for lenders
to provide greater flexibility and individual
assessments,” she adds.
On a practical level, the Marsden does this by
gathering broker feedback through its distribution
team, as well as looking for recurring themes
within its rejected cases. When a common thread
is identified, it examines the associated risks and
mitigations to understand whether future criteria
might merit amendments. The recent expansion
of its broker support and BDA teams reflects the
importance placed on broker engagement.
Standing firm
Broome sees expat and later life lending
remaining at the Marsden’s core.
This does not mean standing still, as
the process of criteria review and
evolution is ongoing, just as the
borrowers themselves undergo
seismic changes in terms of
demographics, employment,
finances and more. At the
centre of this is the Marsden’s
commitment to provide
lending built around
the individual. ●
October 2026 | The Intermediary
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