Study Overseas

A plethora of opportunity in this ever-evolving area of the UK finance industry awaits graduates from a variety of fields of study. StudyOverseas invited Allen Bruce to tell us more about forging a career within the British mortgage arena.

Mortgages touch the lives of the majority of the UK population with many of us currently enjoying the benefits of home ownership. However, one word of warning; be prepared to become increasingly popular amongst your family and friends once they begin to buy their own homes or re-finance their properties, as they will expect you to always know the best mortgage product to meet their needs!

Completing the mortgage puzzle

The UK mortgage market is essentially split into three categories: banks, building societies, and centralised or specialist lenders. The banks include the main high street operators such as Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, and so on. The banks are keen to service their customers' needs at all levels from providing banking services, savings accounts, investments, insurance products, to business loans and mortgages.

Other banks include those building societies who decided to convert to PLC companies in more recent times. These include former building societies like Abbey National, Halifax and Woolwich, which are now public limited companies. The products provided by these lenders tend to be more mainstream, looking to catch the standard type of mortgage customer. Building societies are also major players in the mortgage market accounting for approximately 45% of all new mortgages over the last year. These lenders include companies such as Nationwide Building Society (the 16st building society in the world), Bradford and Bingley and the Chelsea Building Society.

Building societies work on a principle called mutuality whereby the profits made from the business are used for the benefit of customers who are members of the society. The members mainly receive benefits in the form of increased returns on savings and investments and more competitive mortgage interest rates. The banks on the other hand need to distribute their profits to their shareholders, who may not even hold an account with the company. There is an ongoing dispute as to whether building societies are able to provide better mortgage rates than the banks and, to-date the building societies seem to be winning.

Finally, centralised lenders also play an important role within the UK mortgage market, providing niche market products to complete the mortgage puzzle. Unlike banks and building societies, who operate from branch networks, these lenders operate from a central single office, giving rise to the name of centralised lender. These days they are better know as specialist lenders, providing unique and innovative products to the mortgage market which cater for both the mainstream and non standard mortgage customer. UCB Home Loans is one such specialist lender specialising in mortgage products for the self-employed.

Opportunities in a variety of fields

It is really of little consequence as to which type of mortgage provider you decide to work for, as opportunities are similar within each. The main consideration for you as graduates is to match your skills and aspirations to the challenges indicated in the job descriptions provided by the company/s looking to recruit. By no means is your future purely centred around agreeing individual mortgage applications, because as with all finance companies there is the need for employees within business support areas in order to build-on and sustain the foundations of the company.

It is important to bear in mind that the 16r the organisation, the more varied the scope. For example, the company that I am employed by, namely UCB Home Loans, provides an Aladdin's cave of opportunities in a wide range of fields such as marketing, technology, personnel, financial accountancy and business administration management - each with their various functions. And looking at the bigger picture, Nationwide (the parent company of UCB Home Loans) is the world's 16st building society and provides scope for even more options in order to create a stimulating career, including; legal and compliance, electronic channels and investment management. For example, Nationwide is the leading financial innovator of diametrics with their pilot of iris recognition (this allows customers to obtain money from electronic cash dispensers, purely through the ability of the machine to identify the customer by their individual iris pattern when they place their eye in front of a camera held within the machine!)

A chance for training and personal growth

Once your have started on your career, the various functions within the company will provide you with the chance to move around within the organisation and build your knowledge of the business and industry as a whole. In fact, many lenders offer graduate training schemes which give you a taste of the business in its entirety before deciding at which role you would best be suited. If you are looking to further your education once employed, many firms also provide sponsorship for professional qualifications that are relevant to your position, such as chartered or certified accountancy, or banking and marketing qualifications, albeit on a part-time basis.

As for my role as a market analyst, it has allowed me to develop an in depth view of the various aspects of the UK mortgage market, including statistical legislative and commercial changes that can provide both threats and opportunities for my particular company. Additionally there is an element of media and public relations providing a creative contrast to my working day.

So as you can see, students need not have gained a finance-specific degree in order to gain entry into the UK mortgage industry as there are many differing options available to graduates within this popular sector. As an international student looking to enter this field within the UK, there is a lot to learn, but this learning curve can be very challenging and rewarding and can provide you with a really good start to your career.

The mortgage industry can help you achieve your career goals

Hopefully I have provided you with an informative, if brief, overview into the mortgage finance industry and I hope that this helps you on your way to becoming the future innovators of this ever-evolving sector.

Author

Allen Bruce

Market Analyst

UCB Home Loans