Movers & Shakers
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Bank of England governor Mervyn King's pronouncement that the nice decade is over has a certain resonance not usually associated with an acronym*, for it surely is not nice that a 10-year period of non-inflationary continuous expansion is behind us.
And that might just explain why Rachel Lomax, deputy governor of the BoE, has decided to call it a day and will be stepping down at the end of June after serving just a single five-year term. From now on, her job would only have got tougher.
But given the inflationary pressures in the economy and the problems in the housing and mortgage markets, such a change at the top comes at a difficult time. Moreover, Lomax's original appointment raised eyebrows because she, like deputy governor Sir John Gieve who is responsible for overseeing financial stability, were formerly senior civil servants in the Treasury and it was thought that they might be too pro-Treasury in their leanings.
Possible contenders for the vacated post are said to include Professor Charles Bean (pictured right), an economist who is already at the BoE where he is in charge of research an analysis and reports to Lomax.
Ridge resigns from Help
Another sign that it's not nice any more is the resignation of Robert Ridge, managing director of Help Personal Finance, part of the Help Group. Ridge has been a regular contributor to Lending Strategy.
Ridge, handed in his resignation to the secured loan master broker after almost three years with the firm although it is not clear why he has left.
Ridge says: "I can't make any comment at the moment but confirm that I have handed in my resignation."
Before working for Help, Ridge founded and ran JER Marketing, a marketing and lead generating company specialising in sub-prime data and generating leads both online and off. The company was bought by Help and Ridge became managing director.
And
Platform, the intermediary lender of Britannia, is continuing with its repositioning in the market, appointing Lee Gladwell director of sales and proposition with effect from July 21.
Gladwell, who will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Platform's sales and proposition functions in support of the company's strategic objectives, will report directly to Platform's managing director David Tweedy.
In turn, Mark Gordon, Platform's new head of proposition (a new department encompassing the firm's marketing, product development and e-commerce functions), and Jason Berry, head of sales, will both report to Gladwell.
Gladwell has more than 25 years' experience in the financial services industry and has held senior sales and marketing posts at Commercial Union, AXA, Capita and most recently the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Meanwhile, at Alliance & Leicester which has also been reviewing its senior management structure in its intermediary sales and service division, Viviane Clement has been appointed to the new role of head of intermediary sales.
Clement (pictured right) has spent her entire career at A&L. Most recently she has been regional sales manager for London, South-East and East Anglia, reports to Raj Uppal, director of mortgages. She is responsible for the intermediary sales division including field-based and telephony teams.
BM Solutions' managing director Tim Hague has been redeployed to head up the Birmingham Midshires' savings and investments team. The move follows the resignation of Jason Robinson who had been head of savings at BM.
Savings and investments are a major focus for HBOS at the moment and industry sources say it was vital for the company to have a safe pair of hands on board, so Hague was drafted in.
Hague has already started work in the role, although he will continue to report to Nigel Stockton, managing director of both BM and HBOS Intermediary Mortgages.
HBOS is now on the hunt for a suitable candidate to replace Hague and Stockton is taking control of BM Solutions in the interim.
Stockton says: "I am delighted that Hague has accepted the savings and investments role. With changing priorities facing the mortgage industry, I believe he is well placed to ensure we continue to grow our savings business at BM."
The Finance Industry Standards Association, the secured loan industry's self-regulatory and compliance body, has appointed Phil Nunnerley (pictured right) as chairman.
This appointment follows a review conducted by FISA last year. One of the main recommendations to come out of this was the need for an independent chairman.
Nunnerley's key responsibility will be to chair the board, which is being reconstituted to include equal numbers of broker and lender representatives.
He will also be deeply involved in working with the board and chief executive John Parker to further the association's strategic objectives while building contacts and representing FISA with industry stakeholders such as government departments and regulators.
Nunnerley has spent most of his career with Lloyds TSB and during his 16 years at the bank he has held a number of senior management roles in the retail division, with responsibilities in areas such as distribution, development and service delivery.
Before leaving Lloyds TSB he held the role of director of people management. He also holds a number of non-executive positions in the financial services sector.
Nunnerley says: "With the mortgage sector under intense scrutiny from the government, regulators and the media it is important that the secured loan industry continues to maintain the highest standards."
Source:
Lending Strategy
