The firm held its annual general meeting today, and non-executive chair Katherine Innes Ker said there had been “strong” recruitment activity across MAB’s AR division and it expected a “high number of new firms and advisers” to join the company over the next few months.
She added: “Our pipeline of incoming new ARs has also continued to grow strongly over the last few months. This momentum has built as a direct result of the significant developments in technology and lead generation that we have delivered, as well as further investment in our recruitment resources to ensure we can capitalise on the opportunity our proposition enhancements bring.
“We expect our existing AR firms to start growing their adviser numbers again later in the year, most likely as consumer confidence improves when there is more certainty around the outlook for mortgage interest rates and our firms can plan with a greater degree of certainty.”
As of 17 May, MAB had 1,906 mainstream advisers, which was slightly down from the 1,918 they had on 31 December. Meanwhile, its total number of advisers came to 2,110, down from 2,158 in December. Its total adviser number includes advisers in directly authorised (DA) firms which use MAB’s subsidiary Auxilium, a specialist protection service provider.
MAB: Performing well in a slower market
Ker said MAB has also increased its market share in Q1 amid a slowdown in activity across the housing and mortgage sectors.
Based on mortgage lending figures seen by MAB and set to be released by UK Finance in June, Ker said there was a 13% annual reduction in new mortgage lending in Q1.
She announced that the firm’s total mortgage completions stayed stable at £5.7bn during the first three months of the year. This was compared to £5.8bn last year.
She said: “This has been achieved, in part, through increased productivity across our adviser base.”
MAB’s new mortgage completions came to £4.1bn, down from £4.4bn last year. This included £1.6bn of product transfer business, which was higher than 2023’s total of £1.4bn.
Ker said new mortgage applications across the market had been better in Q1 compared to last year, with a pickup in purchase and buy-to-let activity. Remortgage business was slightly down, which she said reflected a lower number of borrowers needing to refinance and a larger share of those refinancing choosing a product transfer.
She added: “MAB has performed well in these conditions.”
“MAB’s performance, even though mortgage activity as a result of the subdued market conditions remains below long-term averages, is in line with the board’s expectations, with further improvement expected in the second half of this year. I am therefore delighted to be leaving MAB in excellent shape as I hand over to Mike Jones who will succeed me as chair with effect from today,” Ker said.
Peter Brodnicki, chief executive of MAB, added: “Our performance once again demonstrates MAB’s ability to continue winning market share in all market conditions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Katherine for her excellent contribution since IPO [initial public offering]. It has been an absolute pleasure working with her, and she leaves the business in fantastic shape.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Emilie McCarthy as our new chief financial officer, replacing Lucy Tilley. I congratulate Lucy and thank her for her outstanding contribution to MAB since she joined in 2015. We wish her every success in the future.”
