In a broker memo out this morning, the top six mortgage lender said this year will be a pivotal time for the UK mortgage market and the intermediary sector, which is expected to claim 90 per cent of its distribution by 2024.
Clift (pictured) said: “Barclays has long been committed to the intermediary channel and in delivering the products and service levels which matter for advisers and their clients. We are a lender who has collaborated closely with our strategic partners over this time, and I feel privileged to have been offered such a position with a team already in place who are real experts in their field to support me.”
He has worked at Barclays for over 35 years specialising in large scale distribution, operations leadership and strategic transformation. Clift has led global operations teams supporting secured retail lending, business banking and wealth and overseen key support services, including workforce management and service and supplier management.
Strategic change
Clift managed Barclays’ mortgage processing and contact centres and headed up Home Solutions Direct, ‘successfully transforming the mortgage business performance through a period of significant regulatory change.’
He said: “My aim is to bring all of this collective experience to my new role and integrate positive change when and where I can across the Barclays intermediary proposition.”
“We have seen just how resilient and robust the UK housing and mortgage markets were in the later part of 2022 and we enter a new year which is likely to generate as many opportunities as it does challenges for lenders and distributors. And this is especially apparent for an intermediary market whose levels of experience and expertise will be so highly prized and in such great demand,” he said.
“From a distribution perspective, we are always looking to improve our service offering and I am keen to hear feedback from all our key distribution partners about how we can embark on positive change. As outlined in my job title, a critical focal point in my new role will be to drive transformation from a product, service and operations perspective and I hope that [distribution partners] will play an integral role in helping me and the team shape this journey,” he added.
Barclays became the first high street bank to confirm plans to close branch outlets this year, with 15 by April, in London, the North and one in Wales as customers increasingly bank online, after 132 closures last year
Across the high street, a raft of banks and mutuals including Lloyds, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Nationwide and Danske Bank closed over 600 branches last year.
