Castle Trust Capital relaunches mortgage proposition and targets 30% growth

As part of the relaunch, Castle Trust has created a new website, but the main thrust is in a marketing and advertising campaign that will seek to correct misconceptions on the lender’s product focus.

“When this business started back in 2012, it had a very different proposition,” said Matthew Wyles (pictured), executive director at Castle Trust Capital. “It launched as a specialist provider of equity loans.”

However, Wyles said the business had developed and diversified significantly in recent years and that equity loans had essentially withered on the vine. He explained: “Our initial product was very successful, but it relied on our ability to sell house price inflation to financial institutions…

“We bought house price inflation from our mortgage borrowers through our mortgage products and then we sold it at a margin to financial institutions who wanted to take exposure to the UK housing market. Since Brexit, that appetite has reduced, and so we have taken the decision because we are doing so many other things, and have been doing so for a while, that we would switch the equity loans propositions off and concentrate on our mainstream activities.”

Wyles said the business targeted high net worth borrowers, business customers and large portfolio landlords. In trying to reach these borrowers, Wyles said Castle Trust Capital did not expect to trade with every intermediary in the market.

He commented: “The vast majority of the intermediaries we deal with are directly authorised and they tend to be at the more sophisticated end of the wicket.”

According to Wyles, Castle Trust Capital is lending hundreds of thousands, rather than billions of pounds on an annual basis, although he would not give specific figures. But he did say the firm was looking to grow lending volumes by between 25 to 30% in the next 12 months.