Lenders have always had differing distribution strategies, from relying entirely on mortgage brokers, to having different pricing for branches and brokers, to not accepting introduced business at all.

For many years HSBC has been in the latter camp, preferring to restrict mortgages to their own branches and website. But that has now started to change and we’re very pleased to be one of the first firms to be able to arrange their mortgages.

It’s a sign of growing support for the intermediary market generally. Since the Mortgage Market Review brought in the need for virtually all mortgages to be formally advised upon, the importance of high quality advice (and the work brokers have always done) is increasingly recognised by lenders.

It’s also the case that giving advice is a rather bigger job than giving “only information”, so lenders have also seen that not only do their own staff need greater training, each mortgage now  takes longer to arrange.

So the fact that there is a readily available, already trained body of mortgage advisers out there is increasingly valuable to lenders seeking to grow their business in a highly competitive market.

At the time of writing HSBCs range looks well suited to movers and first time buyers, with competitive rates for those with deposits between 10% and 20%, giving a welcome additional option for hard-pressed buyers. How the lending policy and service supports that, only time will tell; but you don’t get to be the biggest bank in the land by accident and having extra options can never be a bad thing.