Afin Bank has launched a new mortgage proposition designed for High Net Worth borrowers, enabling clients to use a wide range of assets to support affordability assessments.
The Afin Premier range allows applicants to include pensions, investments, shares, real estate holdings and even items such as fine art and classic cars when applying for a mortgage.
The bank said the product is aimed at “asset rich” customers whose income may be lower than would normally be required for the size of loan they seek.
Affordability will be based either on verified net assets or a mix of income and assets.
Traditionally, High Net Worth mortgages have been provided mainly by private banks. Afin Premier will instead be made available through all of Afin’s intermediary partners.
Tippie Malgwi (pictured), business development director for Afin Bank, said: “This is another example of Afin Bank supporting underserved customers.
“Standard mortgage methodology understandably focuses on income, but for many High Net Worth clients their wealth and affordability is in their assets, as opposed to their earnings. This means that a customer will benefit from bespoke affordability, taking into account their entire asset base.
“Lender solutions that only use a highly automated tick box approach to mortgage applications are unlikely to be flexible enough to consider valuable assets when assessing affordability.”
Afin Premier is available across the lender’s full range of residential mortgages for first-time buyers, home movers and remortgages in England and Wales.
Products include fixed rate and flexible tracker mortgages, with the tracker option carrying no early repayment charges. Borrowers will have the option of repayment or interest-only structures.
Alan Davison, chief commercial officer for Afin Bank, said: “From speaking to brokers they tell us the number of clients that fall into the High Net Worth category is growing every year, especially when it comes to factors such as intergenerational wealth.
“However, their options for getting a mortgage are limited as many mainstream lenders won’t support them and they don’t necessarily want to move to a private bank.
“Afin Premier embodies our mission to support customers who, because of their circumstances, are underserved by bigger lenders.
“At Afin, High Net Worth borrowers will be treated as individuals, with a straightforward and pragmatic approach to underwriting, to help them get the mortgage they need.”
