Jackie Bennett OBE started as director of mortgages at UK Finance this week replacing Paul Smee, ex-director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), as top mortgage appointment and policy lead at the trade body.
Bennett has a long mortgage-focused career, most lately as deputy compliance manager at the Northview Group, compliance conduct manager at GE Home Lending and head of policy for 13 years at the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Bennett said: “It’s a really exciting time to join UK Finance representing the mortgage industry. I look forward to working alongside the team and with the Mortgage Product and Service Board to ensure housing remains at the top of the agenda.”
Smee continues as a director at Paul Smee consulting and a trustee at the Money Advice Trust.
Ex-CML head of member and external relations, Sue Anderson also started a new role this week at debt charity StepChange. Anderson took a short career break after more than 27 years with the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
The CML integrated with five other bodies in July 2017 to form UK Finance, the new trade association for nearly 300 providers of finance, banking and payments-related services.
In July, UK Finance mortgage product board chairman Peter Hill spoke exclusively to Mortgage Solutions about how the organisation will progress its key strategies.
The new association now represents the Asset Based Finance Association, the British Bankers’ Association, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, FFA UK, Payments UK and the UK Cards Association.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.