This month we are taking to Martese Carton (pictured), head of mortgage distribution at Leeds Building Society. She has worked at the mutual for over seven years, initially joining as intermediary distribution in 2016 before taking on her current role in 2022.
In her role, she leads both broker and direct mortgage teams nationally.
Before joining Leeds Building Society, she worked at Natwest for around eight years as a senior corporate account manager and prior to that was a business development manager at Edeus for nearly two years.
Q: How did you get started in mortgages?
A: I’ve worked in financial services for many years, and got into mortgages by chance. I’d seen an advert in the local paper for a role at Mortgage Express and have never looked back.
Q: You have worked across banks and building societies, what would you say the key differences are?
A: Building societies play a crucial role in helping people on the path to homeownership, and when I joined Leeds Building Society, I was struck by the way that our purpose drives all the decisions we make across the business.
Before joining Leeds, I hadn’t really considered that building societies don’t have shareholders but are run in the interest of members. I was pleasantly surprised that as well as being financially astute, they are also community focused and benevolent, bringing savers and borrowers together to create a mutually beneficial relationship.
Our strategy to support first-time buyers and develop innovative products often means we are able to offer a more diverse mortgage portfolio to intermediaries than some mainstream banks. And to help people on their savings journey to get onto the property ladder, Leeds Building Society consistently pays savers above the average market rate.
Q: You took on the role of director of mortgage distribution, a newly created role, at Leeds Building Society in 2022, what are the key areas you are working on and where do you see opportunities?
A: Colleague engagement is extremely important to me, and I’ve spent a lot of time making sure that I have the right leadership structure in place to support an efficient and positive working environment.
Of course, the intermediary experience is also key, and working across my teams to improve processes, service levels and satisfaction has been a priority and will continue to be my focus in the future.
Q: Some of the key areas that you have worked on during your time at Leeds BS is investing in mortgage systems and improving the service and functionality. What other upgrades are on the cards, and do you think the mortgage sector is embracing technology at a fast enough pace?
A: Following the success of our Mortgage Hub application system, we are entering the second phase of our technology upgrades where we’re working on bringing the product transfer and porting applications onto the same platform. We’re also looking to enhance our criteria search engine and are continuing to streamline our intermediary website.
Technology improvements in the industry are finally starting to gather some momentum, but there is still plenty to do, and the industry needs to continue to develop at pace and with ambition if we want to make a real difference. We’ll continue to listen to feedback from our intermediary partners to improve the service, technology, and products we offer.
Q: Leeds BS came out with a tool to manage home energy use, in light of the government rowing back on net zero targets do you think energy efficiency should still be high up the priority list for lenders and what has the take up of the tool been like?
A: The UK has not only got the oldest housing stock in Europe with around one in five homes failing to meet the government’s definition of a ‘decent home’, but UK housing stock contributes around 16 per cent of all UK carbon emissions.
The data from our Climate Tracker tells us that customers are more aware than ever of these issues, with over 90 per cent of those looking for a property next year considering the energy efficiency of their new home.
In response to this and in partnership with the Energy Savings Trust, we created our energy saving tool for customers to find out how a few small changes could save them money and reduce the impact their home has on the environment and this has been well received by those that have used it.
Q: Leeds BS recently came out with a report that said that over 400,000 first-time buyers could be priced out of the market, what would you like to see from the mortgage sector to support this segment and does it need more been intervention?
A: The report tells us that the house price to earnings ratio has more than doubled in the past four decades, from two times earnings to almost five times earnings. This means it is taking the average renter roughly 12 years to save for a deposit. This is contributing to a growing gap between people with the ability or family help to build up a deposit, and those who cannot.
This underlines the need for long-term solutions. We need commitment from the government to build more homes of all types, with a major acceleration of current efforts and policy changes. We must restore mandatory housing targets and the introduction of targets for affordable housing in local authorities, and we should increase the affordable routes to home ownership by supporting shared ownership schemes.
Q: How do you think the role of the building society will evolve in the future?
A: For years, building societies have helped borrowers and savers fulfill their needs. By embracing innovation in all areas, building societies can leverage their strengths and financial stability to enter new segments and continue to create loyalty.
Investing in technology and digital capability will enhance the intermediary online experience and help more first-time buyers on to the housing ladder.
Q: Leeds BS and yourself are a great support of DIFF and other diversity initiatives, why is this so important and do you think the sector is moving forward?
A: Diversity is important in every aspect of life. To make the industry more inclusive and diverse, we must celebrate all our differences and the unique perspectives that colleagues bring to their roles. Embracing diversity is essential for the growth and progress of our industry.
As well as supporting initiatives like DIFF, Leeds Building Society has fostered an inclusive company culture and recently achieved Gold accreditation from Inclusive Employers for activity we delivered in the last year.
By having a positive reputation in this area, our industry should naturally attract a more diverse workforce, but we shouldn’t take this for granted and must continue to focus on recruitment processes, colleague education and retention.
Q: There are more women in senior positions but not enough, how do we get more women applying for the top jobs?
A: Embracing diversity is not only beneficial but essential for the growth and progress of our industry, and the collaboration opportunities and awareness of the issues that are covered at DIFF is really important.
Research shows that a diverse workforce encourages innovation, productivity, and improved company culture and employee engagement.
To make the industry more inclusive and diverse, we need more female role models to pioneer for change and open up opportunities for women.
Women often bring a strong leadership style, which emphasizes collaboration, but are often more likely to talk themselves out of applying for a senior role. There are so many things we can do, but a good starting point is to consider the language used in job descriptions to ensure that applicants know about development opportunities and that businesses are not always expecting applicants to be the finished article.
Q: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the mortgage sector in the next year and how can they be faced?
A: In our new report, analysing the multiple barriers facing first-time buyers, Leeds Building Society estimates as many as 233 first-time buyers per day will be priced out of the housing market in England over the next five years.
If left unaddressed, 426,000 people, equivalent to a city the size of Coventry, are unlikely to get on the housing ladder over the next five years.
Every generation deserves a place to call home and action needs to be taken to build a market which better supports and empowers first-time buyers.
We must increase affordable routes to home ownership, with renters’ reform to provide greater protection for those saving for a deposit, support for a well-managed and regulated Build to Rent sector, and increased bridges to ownership such as shared ownership.
We are working closely with the housing industry and the government so we can continue to put home ownership within reach of more people for generations to come.
