The bank had initially piloted its broker channel in 2014 with Countrywide Mortgage Services and has been growing its reach in the segment ever since.
HSBC rolled out to the whole of broker market in 2021, and expanded its buy-to-let availability to brokers in the same year.
According to figures from 2021, there were around 510 firms and 13,5000 advisers in its broker panel.
Chris Pearson (pictured), HSBC UK’s head of intermediary mortgages, said: “The world has changed a lot since we carried out a pilot with one provider in 2014, but the industry continues to show its resilience and ability to handle and overcome challenges that come its way. Something we should all be very proud of.”
He continued that since the pilot it had “slowly and steadily increased our reach” and onboarded firms gradually to “ensure we had the infrastructure and pairs of hands needed to provide a very good service to those brokers who trusted us with their business”.
Broker business grows ‘significantly but sensibly’
Pearson said that its intermediary business had “grown significantly, but always sensibly” and now the “vast majority” of its mortgage lending came through its broker channel.
He added: “We have invested heavily in technology to ensure our broker platform works well in addition to bringing in colleagues to enable us to answer thousands of queries a month through our live chat or over the phone.
“The number of people across our intermediary business has grown across every component of the business and we have some of the very best people in the industry, both broker-facing and those colleagues behind the scenes making the magic happen in the UK and right across the globe.”
Pearson added: “I’ve been around long enough to be certain that this is a very resilient industry and is well served by hugely talented people. At HSBC UK, we are very much up for what 2023 may bring and our support and optimism for the industry we serve continues to shine brightly.”
