This month, we are sitting down with Zara Bray (pictured), distribution director for the mortgage network of Quilter.
How did you get into the mortgage industry?
I worked at Legal & General (L&G) for over 20 years in various distribution roles. My husband is a mortgage and protection adviser, so when an opportunity came up in the L&G Mortgage Club, I jumped at the chance in the hope I could influence change from within a large corporate structure to support the advice challenges I was seeing first-hand at home.
It was a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the industry’s largest network and DA firms as the head of strategic accounts, before moving to Quilter Financial Planning in May this year as distribution director of the mortgage network.
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What has been your biggest learning over your career?
I have always been driven but I learnt early on that you can’t do it alone; you need mentorship and a strong network around you. I have been lucky enough to work with some fantastic people that have supported my growth and recognised my potential, even when I had doubts myself.
What are the biggest opportunities and challenges currently for the mortgage network sector?
Opportunities: With it being a big refinance year, it’s a great opportunity to re-engage with customers, particularly regarding their protection needs.
Challenges: I’m really passionate about quality financial advice being accessible for all, yet there is a decreasing number of advisers. I’m driving an initiative at Quilter to sponsor individuals within our firms to develop their careers by funding their CeMAP qualifications and helping them on the journey to success.
What are the strategic priorities for Quilter this year for the mortgage and protection network?
To remain relevant in a changing landscape, we must evolve our proposition to meet a more complex customer base, drive growth through quality recruitment, and work to close the protection gap.
There is a lot of pressure on broker firms at the moment. Are more moving from DA to AR or vice versa, and what broker support does Quilter have in place?
The regulator has been very active this year, so I sympathise with firms as they navigate through changes. Firms have only recently got comfortable with new processes following Consumer Duty. Regulatory changes take time to embed, and that challenge is even harder for a directly authorised firm because they often don’t have the resources that a network has and are trying to balance keeping the business profitable and compliant at the same time. Quilter does the heavy lifting for firms so that they can focus on their customers.
Quilter recently confirmed that ARs in its wealth network would move to a restricted model. Will similar changes be made to its mortgage network, and can you explain the reasoning behind the initial change?
Only a small handful of firms within our wealth advice network currently operate independently – making the ongoing oversight of an independent wealth advice proposition unsustainable. The wealth network had very few true IFAs left that had not already moved to restricted. We run a risk and profit model, and with the restricted advisers still having access to the whole of market when required, the move was not as large as some might have thought. However, we’re not planning to narrow our proposition in the mortgage network – quite the opposite. We’re onboarding new lenders regularly and have ambitions to expand into more complex lending areas.
What is the current headcount of mortgage advisers/firms at Quilter mortgage network and do you have plans for further recruitment?
We have ambitious growth plans that are off to a good start this year, with plans to continue investment in the mortgage network under my leadership. I have a growing recruitment team and our current adviser count is around 900. But it’s not just a numbers game; we’re looking for good-quality advisers that are aligned to our strategy.
What would you want brokers, or the mortgage industry more widely, to know about Quilter Financial Planning?
We are more than a wealth network – we are serious players in the mortgage and protection space. I’m really proud of the strength of our wealth business and we have big plans to expand on the opportunities that gives us from a brand and credibility perspective, while increasing the profile of my brilliant mortgage network division.
