Sitting down with Mortgage Solutions around six months into the role, Morris said Santander had been “quiet for a few years” as it underwent a deleveraging strategy, which many other lenders had been doing.
Santander had “under punched” relative to the lender’s capacity, and Morris said it was “time to bring some of that [business] back”.
“We’ve got big growth aspirations, and after that period of deleveraging, we’re now in a position where we can start to grow again,” he added.
Morris said he wanted people to remember what Santander stood for, know it was on the side of brokers and customers and “start to introduce the things that genuinely differentiate ourselves”.
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Santander in partnership with brokers
The bank recently published a pledge to brokers, with promises to not have dual pricing, to give more than 24 hours’ notice before changing products and improve its product transfer process.
Morris said he spoke to people in the market to see where Santander stood, and the consensus was the lender had been quiet, had a “great pedigree”, and there had been errors of judgement in the past that people still remembered.
He added: “For me, the broker pledge was about coming out and saying, ‘we’re here, we’re back’ and just re-contracting to say we’re really serious about working with the market.”
Morris said a lot of the things Santander had got wrong in the past happened some time ago, so the pledge was to remind brokers of what the bank was already doing but probably not good enough at communicating.
Santander does not issue broker comms on product changes with fewer than 24 hours’ notice, has not dual-priced for years and is in the process of improving the product transfer process.
The pledge landed well, Morris said, and he wanted to continue refreshing them to show progress and reposition Santander as being on the side of the broker.
“Brokers are really understanding if you just let them know what you’re doing. You don’t have to be perfect, but if you are imperfect and don’t talk to them, it’s understandable why that causes problems. Let’s talk to the market, let them know what we’re trying to do, let’s be really clear,” he added.
Morris wants Santander to be seen as a partner to brokers and said communication, innovation, transparency and consistency would drive this.
He also said the lender would be able to use its size and influence to “really get behind the industry” and send the message that it wanted to make brokers’ lives better.
A reimagined offering
Morris would like brokers and customers to choose Santander not because they have to, but because they want to, adding that the lender was known for being “super simple” and “super easy” but wanted to say “yes” to more customers.
He said Santander was a “simple lender” that did “fairly well” delivering the vast majority of what the market needed, but could venture more into more complex markets.
“I do think, over time, what I’d like to do is augment the offering that we have today. We’re really quite competitive and easy to use. I want us to do more of the complex stuff and double down on the service proposition and be known as a lender that’s easy to do business with.
“Hopefully, over the next 12-15 months, you’ll start to see some things landing, which will feel different,” Morris added.
Since starting at Santander, Morris said many of the conversations he had stressed the importance of the group’s UK mortgage book.
“It’s a [part of the] business that they look to as an area of excellence,” he added.
Making a mark at Santander
Morris said when joining a new role, it was expected there would be fresh ideas and a new way of doing things.
He said he felt “validated” seeing some of the plans he had for Santander come to fruition in the work he had completed so far.
Morris “stumbled into banking” and his career started in the products department of a private bank. After this, he joined Coventry Building Society as the head of products, marking his entry into the mortgage sector.
“I suddenly found myself running my biggest mortgage portfolio and was exposed to a whole new world,” Morris said.
Morris said he loved working at the company and was able to define its mortgage strategy and broker proposition. He then got a role at Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) and stayed for six years, looking after products, distribution and marketing.
Now at Santander and coming from YBS, where it “doubled down on the broker proposition”, Morris said this was something he brought to his current role, intending to “try and reaffirm and strengthen that”.
He said the UK mortgage business was a really important part of the Santander group, so the lender would be “more present” doing the “bread and butter” business while looking at new parts of the market.
Santander also plans to be “active” in the broker market with hopes “to be seen as one of the major lenders in the market who are there through thick and thin”, Morris said.
He said if the lender achieved this, the momentum would continue into next year and continue its growth.
“That’s what I’ve been brought in to do; the ask is very clear,” Morris added.
