Newcastle Intermediaries has enhanced its shared ownership proposition, having introduced new remortgage and staircasing products. The lender introduced its shared ownership proposition to the market last year, with a range of products to support first-time buyers or other borrowers with limited availability. The introduction of staircasing also allows buyers to increase their share in property up to 100% of the value in increments of 5%. As part of the range, a five-year fixed rate at 6.50% is available and comes with a £999 product. The range also includes a fixed rate of 6.70% with no product fee and a free standard valuation. Both products come with 10% overpayments and early repayment charges of 5% until the end of January 2025, and decreasing by 1% every year afterwards.

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) has appointed Richard Harrison as its new chief executive officer (CEO), subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Harrison joins SBG with 20 years’ experience in financial services leadership. He joins from Wesleyan Assurance Society where he served as chief distribution officer. Harrison has also worked as head of network and premier at HSBC UK, where he was responsible for more than 7,000 people and 520 branches. He will join SBG on 2 January 2024, at which point current interim CEO, John Cowan, will resume his role as chair of the SGB board.

The financial services arm of Just Mortgages, Just Wealth, has launched a new referral portal to give mortgage advisers greater line of sight when introducing potential wealth clients. The new in-house developed portal, called Just Refer, streamlines the entire wealth referral process and ensures that brokers at Just Mortgages remain informed at all stages and in real time. Replacing the existing email tracker system to alert mortgage brokers, the portal covers each relevant touch point within the referral and advice journey, enabling them to better track customer outcomes. In 2022, Just Mortgages referred 1,200 cases to the Just Wealth division to help clients in a range of product areas including pensions and investment advice, inheritance tax, life assurance and other protection products.

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