News in brief - 13 March 2025

Alternative Bridging Corporation has opened a new office in Hyde, Greater Manchester. The move comes as the firm looks to support brokers nationwide and expand access to its property finance solutions. The new office opened its doors on 3 March and is led by head of sales, Paul Gavin, and northern business development manager, Chris Roscoe. The pair will work with intermediaries to support their bridging loan, development finance and specialist lending requirements. As part of its ongoing expansion, Alternative Bridging is growing its team and is continuing to strengthen its broker relationships.

Just Mortgages has appointed Sandie Lear as its new divisional sales director. Leading the Metro region, she will support and grow her team of employed mortgage advisers in 21 Haart estate agency branches across east London. Kear started her career at Woolwich as a mortgage specialist before joining Countrywide in 2006. Following a four-year stint with HSBC, where she served as a senior financial planning manager, going on to join The New Homes Group and rose through the ranks in her 13 years at the firm.

Keychain has launched a new AI-powered document analysis tool after a successful trial with existing advisers. The all-in-one platform enables firms to simplify their client journey, from client onboarding to document verification. The tool has been developed with direct input from advisers, after Keychain first introduced its document analysis functionality six months ago, refining it based on feedback from existing adviser clients. The feature is part of the firm’s wider platform, which provides mortgage brokers with a branded client portal for securely collecting documents, completing fact-finds and managing all aspects of client onboarding in one place.



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