Fleet Mortgages appoints BDM for East London, Essex and East Anglia

Cortes will report directly to sales director Ross Turrell (pictured) and be responsible for managing and developing Fleet Mortgages’ relationships with advisers and intermediaries across the region.

Cortes began his career as an estate agent branch manager, focusing extensively on new-build developments, before moving into the agent’s brokerage building up a significant client base.

After working as an independent adviser he moved to the lending sector, taking up a role as a business development manager with CHL Mortgages.

Turrell said: “Having worked with Matthew in the past, we have always been impressed with his wealth of experience, his depth of knowledge and his work ethic. Having worked as a broker and for lenders, Matthew is acutely aware of the requirements on both sides and is able to understand the needs of the adviser market and provide the support and insight they are looking for. The buy-to-let market across East London and Essex is strong and particularly important for Fleet Mortgages.”

Cortes added: “Having been an adviser myself, I’m fully aware of the value of a quality BDM, and fully plan to fulfil this role myself. I’m looking forward to meeting brokers, building those relationships and working for a forward-thinking and progressive lender in this highly important specialist sector.”

Fleet Mortgages is an intermediary-only lender that was established in 2014. Reporting its results for 2016 at the beginning of this year, it recorded mortgage advances of £515m, up from £185m in 2015. The lender also returned a profit of £2m in 2016 and stated plans to lend around £1bn of mortgages in 2017.