At the network launch event at Lloyds Banking Group’s London offices, Gurpreet Chahal, regional sales manager for Accord Mortgages, said: “What we’re building here today, we want SAPAN to really showcase the mortgage industry. It’s a place where South Asian professionals can thrive. We know, typically, a lot of your parents probably wouldn’t have said to you: ‘Go and work in [the] mortgage industry’. They probably would have said: ‘Be a doctor, lawyer or an accountant’.
“But the mortgage industry is a fantastic place to build a career, build your own business and really thrive. We want to also celebrate the success of people who are paving the way for us and who will continue to pave the way for us as well.
“We want this to be a place for connection, for courage and for change. How we want to do that is we want to listen, and we want to talk to each other. We want to use this platform to lift each other up. We want to create new networks where no one feels alone, and everybody feels seen as well.”
He said South Asian professionals enter the mortgage industry for the first time “full of ambition and full of ideas”. However, they are “quietly wondering in the background” whether they will be seen, heard and understood.
“It’s a story of someone whose name is often mispronounced in meetings, whose cultural celebrations go unnoticed, who works twice as hard to be recognised, not just for their talent, but for their humanity – but yet, there’s also a story of stark resilience, of rising through the ranks of brokers, building their own businesses, successful businesses, leading teams and shaping the future, often without a blueprint, but never without any belief,” he said.
Conversations you need to have with landlords before the Renters’ Rights Act
Sponsored by BM Solutions
Chahal said SAPAN wanted to “spotlight the journeys” that brought South Asian professionals here and “begin writing a new chapter together”.
“This isn’t just an event for us. It’s a declaration that says that we all belong here. You belong here. It says that your heritage is not a hurdle. It’s actually a strength that we can use. We want to build a mortgage industry where success is shared and opportunity is universal to everybody,” Chahal said.
He said there are four-and-a-half million people of South Asian heritage living in the UK, nearly 7% of the population, but many “still face barriers to homeownership”, whether regarding affordability, financial literacy, or cultural or systemic barriers.
Chahal said that within the mortgage industry, “progress is happening, but representation at senior levels remains limited”.
He explained that this was “not just a gap for us in the industry but a missed opportunity”.
“When we bring diverse voices together, we know it doesn’t just reflect the communities we serve, but it helps us to understand them better. It helps us to innovate faster, [then] we build deeper trust as well,” Chahal added.
