New financial services practice Campden Brook is betting that technology should give mortgage advisers more time to understand complicated borrowers — not simply automate them out of the process — as it launches a model combining one-time document submission with adviser “Smart Pods” and a recruitment pipeline for the next generation of brokers.

For a contractor, company Director or borrower with several sources of income, getting a mortgage can sometimes become less about whether they can afford the loan and more about whether their finances fit neatly into a lender’s system.

A newly launched financial services business believes that creates an opportunity.

Campden Brook, based in Chipping Campden, has launched with a model designed to reduce repeated paperwork and give advisers more time to present the financial circumstances of individual borrowers to lenders.

Its central proposition appears almost contradictory in an increasingly automated financial services industry: use more technology behind the scenes so advisers can spend more time dealing with people.

TAKING ON ‘COMPUTER SAYS NO’

Campden Brook specialises in mortgages and protection, while working with accredited specialist partners across commercial loans, bridging finance and later-life lending, including equity release.

Its target includes customers whose financial circumstances may not always fit standardised high-street lending processes.

“Most of what we do comes down to representing a client’s finances properly to a lender,” said Mike Siviter, Advising Principal at Campden Brook.

“Contractors, company directors, people with more than one income stream — none of that is unusual, but it does not always fit neatly into a high-street bank’s system, and no is not always the right answer.

“We would rather take the time to build the full picture and put it in front of a lender who understands it.”

That does not mean every rejected borrower should qualify for a mortgage. Lending decisions remain subject to affordability, eligibility, lenders’ criteria and applicable regulation.

Campden Brook’s argument is narrower: complex does not necessarily mean unsuitable.

SEND THE PAPERWORK ONCE

Anyone who has been through a property transaction will recognise the document trail.

Payslips, identification and bank statements can be requested at different stages and by different parties, creating duplication and delays.

Campden Brook says its model has been designed so client paperwork needs to be submitted once through a secure digital journey supported by proprietary onboarding technology for document verification.

The company is also using technology to create an automated compliance trail designed around the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty requirements.

But rather than attempting to replace advisers with software, the business is using automation to reduce the administrative work surrounding them.

ONE ADVISER, TWO ADMINISTRATORS

At the centre of the model are what Campden Brook calls “Smart Pods”.

Each consists of one qualified adviser supported by two dedicated administrators responsible for activities such as document chasing, lender contact and case processing.

“Advisers work in Smart Pods, with one qualified adviser supported by two dedicated administrators who take on document chasing, lender contact and case processing that would otherwise eat into a broker’s week,” Siviter said.

“In practice, that gives advisers time to listen to clients rather than racing between calls.”

It is an interesting productivity experiment for an industry in which the commercial capacity of an adviser can be constrained by the administration surrounding each case.

If Campden Brook can move a meaningful proportion of that workload away from advisers without compromising oversight or service, the result could be more adviser time available for clients.

PUTTING 35 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE INTO A NEW MODEL

For Siviter, the launch is also an opportunity to apply lessons accumulated over more than three decades in financial services.

“It’s very rare you get the opportunity to put into practice all the things you would like to do if you had the immediate manpower,” he said.

“After 35 plus years in the Financial Services arena as an adviser, manager of people and business owner, I now have the potential to shape a new way forward in helping clients and advisers maximise their potential in so many ways, by calling on all my experience to back us all up.”

Tracey Newman, Operations Director, said recruitment would be central to building the business.

“I’m genuinely excited about being part of Campden Brook,” she said. “Bringing great people into the business is incredibly important to me, and I know our experience, passion and commitment to clients will make a real difference. I’m looking forward to seeing us grow and succeed.”

BUILDING ITS OWN ADVISERS

Campden Brook’s growth strategy has another component: creating rather than simply recruiting advisers.

Experienced mortgage brokers joining the firm will work within the same administrator-supported model, while the company plans to develop a route for case administrators to progress through CeMAP qualifications and supervised development towards qualified adviser positions.

That could give Campden Brook an internal pipeline of advisers already familiar with its systems and working practices.

The success of the model will ultimately depend on execution. Technology cannot make an unsuitable mortgage suitable, nor can additional administration support guarantee that a lender will approve a complex case.

But Campden Brook is making a clear bet about where human financial advice retains value.

As financial services become increasingly digitised, the borrowers who don’t fit neatly into an automated system may be precisely the customers for whom a human adviser matters most.

CAMPDEN BROOK’S MODEL AT A GLANCE

• Mortgages and protection form its core advisory offering
• Specialist partners support commercial loans, bridging finance and later-life lending
• Clients are intended to submit key documentation once
• Proprietary onboarding technology supports document verification
• “Smart Pods” pair one qualified adviser with two dedicated administrators
• Technology creates a compliance trail designed around Consumer Duty requirements
• Experienced brokers are being recruited
• Case administrators can be supported towards CeMAP qualification
• The business is based at Haydon House in Chipping Campden