QDo you worry that the business will suffer from losing the well-known Freedom brand name? Would the money spent on the rebranding not have been better spent improving your intermediary offering or on your products? Are you moving to address this now?

When Merrill Lynch purchased the business from Freedom Finance in July last year, we had a 12-month licence to continue trading under the Freedom brand and thereafter we had to trade under a new name. We therefore had no option but to create a new brand.

While creating a new brand is time consuming, we are delighted with the result. The change of name has not affected our new business volumes at all, and our preliminary research shows that brokers not only understand that Wave is the new name for Freedom Lending, but also why we had to make the change.

Having the backing of Merrill Lynch, we did not have to make a choice between either rebranding or enhancing our product offering – we have done both. Over the past few weeks, we have relaunched our entire product range, and there will be further product announcements to come. Our aim is to be recognised as one of the leading prime niche lenders in the UK intermediary mortgage market.

QI have found a lot of your systems seem to still be paper-based. Do you think you can compete with your competitors, who boast much quicker turnaround times using online systems, without having the latest technology? What developments do you have planned in this area?

We are working on a major revamp of our systems. One of the benefits of playing a game of catch-up is that it does give you the opportunity to leapfrog the competition.

However, we are also very mindful that what brokers like about Wave is the personal service they receive. In fact, when we started searching for a new brand name, we asked mortgage brokers and distributors what they liked about the company. They told us that our underwriters were accessible and always happy to talk, that our sales staff were willing to find solutions to more challenging cases and that our product development team was able to create mortgages which met their specific needs.

Providing a personal service is a core element of our brand ­proposition. What we do not want to do is simply to abandon that attribute in favour of a remote application processing system, an error we have seen some other lenders make. The challenge is to use computer technology to enhance a people-led service proposition. This industry is and always will be about skilled and knowledgeable people, and they will always have a big part to play in the service we provide to intermediaries.

QMerrill Lynch owns several lenders in the UK now. How does Wave sit alongside the other Merrill Lynch brands, such as Mortgages Plc, who are big in buy to let and credit-impaired respectively? How much influence does Merrill Lynch have in your future direction?

Wave has a product portfolio which is aimed at specific niches, such as buy to let and self-certification at the prime end of the market. It is mainly in this prime niche area that we intend to build our presence. Our sub-prime products are very much at the light adverse end of the credit spectrum.

Mortgages Plc, on the other hand, is primarily a non-conforming lender and its expertise is very much built around its understanding of adverse credit. Both brands sit comfortably alongside each other in the market and there are very few instances where we compete head-to-head for new business.

Edeus is not a Merrill Lynch brand. Merrill Lynch is simply an investor in a vehicle that owns Edeus.

QI have heard you are considering expanding your adverse range. Would this include a medium to heavy adverse offering? Who do you see as competitors in this sphere?

No – as I have said, it is not our intention to become a medium or heavy adverse lender. Mortgages Plc understands that sector of the market far better than we do and we are happy to let it be the lead player in those areas.

QYou recently recruited Alliance & Leicester’s Mehrdad Yousefi, a well-known industry figure. Is having strong personalities, who are happy to be in the media eye, an important part of building the Wave brand? Will you also be using him as a spokesman in this new role? Was this move influenced by Merrill Lynch?

We are delighted that Mehrdad is about to join the management team, as he brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge. He will act as a company spokesman alongside other senior managers in the business, addressing issues relevant to his area of expertise. The decision to appoint Mehrdad was made by Wave. While we are very comfortable working in Merrill Lynch, its management is happy to let us get on with running the business on a day-to-day basis.

QYou have a range of buy-to-let rental calculations – down to 100%. How do you defend yourself against those critics of buy to let who warn this is a dangerous step for the future security of this sector?

We have a lot of expertise in this sector, built not only over the past three years, but also as a management team working for previous employers. Our rental and earned income product has proven to be very popular, because it enables borrowers to use additional earned income to top up any shortfall in rental income. We carry out detailed income checks and have a well-proven system for ensuring affordability. By design, our product is fundamentally sound, and we do not have concerns about the performance of our buy-to-let portfolio. n