Five self-employed principal brokers have become the latest graduates from the Just Mortgages business principal leadership programme. The Just Mortgages programme is designed to support principal brokers looking to expand their business by taking on new team members and aims to help build on their leadership skills, to ensure principals get the most out of their team members in terms of performance and productivity. All brokers are asked to complete the programme within 12 months of becoming a principal, with the three-day training takes place in a face-to-face environment and split over the course of three months, minimising disruption to their business.

Knowledge Bank has launched a new communication tool called Notify. Once a broker has placed a case, the Notify tool can be updated with details of which lender the case is placed with, withdrawing it from view of the other lenders so responses stop, and the unsuccessful lenders know they don’t need to spend time on it. Brokers will have a full audit trail of conversations that took place with different lenders which will help it go smoothly when the case is submitted while also evidencing best advice. Knowledge Bank confirmed that its Notify system will also link directly to a Decision in Principle with a unique tracking reference number.

The specialist mortgage division at Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has completed a £12.1m loan facility for an eight-property portfolio in London. Its client was seeking to refinance and raise £4.7m in capital for future property investments, in addition to light redecorating and refurbishment works to existing multi-Unit freehold blocks (MUFBs). The portfolio consisted of a mixture of semi-commercial and MUFB properties, including flats above a retail unit, and there were several inter-company loans in play and the properties needed transferring from one limited company to another upon completion. The total amount lent was £12.1m at 65% loan-to-value (LTV).

Market Financial Solutions (MFS) has announced that it has now grown to over 100 employees and has marked the milestone with a survey on diversity. The specialist lender surveyed its staff to get a full picture of how it was faring when it comes to diversity and inclusivity, with the data revealing that 44% of current MFS employees represent as female and 56% as male. Just under two fifths (38%) of the MFS team describe themselves as English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British. A further 18% are Indian, with a wide range of other nationalities and ethnicities – from Chinese to Pakistani, Lithuanian to Polish – making up the remaining 44%. MFS also revealed that xix different religions are followed across the MFS workforce, which are Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Almost half (48%) said they are an atheist.

Aspring bank, Bevan Money, has submitted its application for a banking licence. The firm plans to provide mortgages, fuelled by retail deposits and designed in detail to help key public sector workers onto the housing ladder. Bevan has reached this point without seeking external seed capital and currently carries no debt, a feat uncommon for start-up banks at this late stage of the process. Bevan has said it has a core vision is to put the “positive power of homeownership in the hands of key public sector workers”, in pursuit of a stronger, fairer society for all.

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