Together cuts 200 jobs

Digitalisation and enhanced automation at the group has been brought forward over the past few months in response to changed working conditions and lockdown, the specialist lender said in a statement to the stock market this week.

Together stopped accepting new loan applications at the start of the UK-wide lockdown in March.

The lender said it is now “cautiously increasing lending volumes” after carrying out around £90m of lending from its pipeline over lockdown.

But added that it is “unlikely we will resume our pre-Covid-19 activity levels for some time”.

In a statement the lender said: “Many economists are predicting a deep and sustained global recession and, combined with the planned exit from the government’s furlough and mortgage payment deferral schemes at the end of October 2020, this is expected to have an impact on property activity, unemployment and economic growth within the UK.”

Securitisation

However, the lender also revealed that last week it successfully priced its latest and largest residential mortgage backed securitisation (‘RMBS’).

On completion, the £370m Together Asset Backed Securitisation 2020 will increase the lender’s facility headroom to around £770m.

Gerald Grimes, group chief executive designate of Together, said: “While it remains too early to reliably estimate the full impact of Covid-19, we expect the remainder of 2020 and possibly 2021 to be challenging for most businesses.

“Together entered the pandemic in a strong position and, as we move out of lockdown, we are taking the necessary steps to shape our business for the future: putting plans in place to mitigate any downside risks; ensuring our cost base is appropriate; and accelerating our transformation programmes to make us more efficient and further improve the experience for our customers.

“With the actions we are taking, we believe Together will emerge from the crisis well placed to support our customers and to play our part in supporting the UK’s economic recovery.”