Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) will target increased intermediary business to counter weakening results from its direct market.

The move comes after N&P closed its only London branch in High Holborn earlier this month. David Jervis, general manager of business services at N&P, said the reason for the closure was lack of use and the high cost of rent in central London.

Despite claiming the branch closure was not directly related to its intermediary business, he went on to say that the level of introduced business continued to grow, accounting for more than 55% of its core mortgage business.

He expected this number to increase as N&P forged links with large intermediary networks while also developing its association with smaller firms.

Jervis said: “We have set up a dedicated team to work directly with larger intermediaries. This has been quite a factor in the growth of our mortgage intermediary business. A direct contact centre was also established to deal with queries from smaller intermediary firms in August last year, and during the past 10 months it has taken on more responsibility and we are now starting to see some strong results.”

He added that further enhancements of its mortgage portfolio are in the pipeline, including the launch of its electronic solution in September this year, which will allow brokers to link directly with a sourcing system and submit electronic applications. Jervis said: “Business is growing because we are committed to service. We ensure we have just the right volume levels to keep up with our processing.”