Meet… Bhusshan Tawade, mortgage adviser at Access Financial Services.
Can you give our readers a short introduction to yourself and the business?
I started in finance in November 2013. My early years at a high street bank were invaluable – I learned about business critical things like compliance, know your customer (KYC) and due diligence.
As customer adviser, I conducted reviews to help customers make informed decisions – similar to the fact find that we have for mortgages.
I worked closely with mortgage advisers who showed me the positive impact of securing the right mortgage deal for clients.
It was then that I caught the mortgage bug and decided to achieve my CeMAP. So, I became a personal mortgage adviser within the business, then a senior mortgage adviser responsible for training and mentoring others.
Six years ago, I took my knowledge and experience to Access Financial Services – a highly innovative, flexible and approachable mortgage and protection brokerage.
Nearly 300 of us across the UK offer whole-of-market lending and protection products directly to consumers.
Unusually for the industry, I’m pleased to say that the business has continued to achieve exceptional growth, despite the choppy market over the past few years.
How does Access Financial Services approach working with clients?
We work incredibly closely with our customers – they’re at the heart of everything we do. We help customers realise their dreams, increase their wealth and prepare for all financial circumstances.
We keep it simple, we listen and we’re available – whether it’s our client’s first home or their 300th property investment. We’re thorough and in it for life.
We fact-find extensively to understand our clients’ needs and circumstances, liaising with multiple lenders to ensure that our clients meet their requirements.
Then, we advise clients on their best options, listen to their decision and submit their mortgage application. After that, we discuss protection and general insurance with them as a duty of care.
We support our clients with empathy and insight throughout their property journey.
Our five-star rating from 604 reviews on Trustpilot is happy testament to this.
Access Financial Services recently achieved a significant increase in turnover by 46% between April 2023 and April 2024. What were the key factors driving this growth?
Growth in our adviser team contributed largely to our increased revenue. The business has recruited well, and trained and retained the best advisers so that we deliver positive client outcomes from the start.
We’ve also reviewed our processes and technology to expedite delivery of our mortgage and protection products, minimising repetition and enhancing the adviser, lender and client journeys.
We’re now looking to grow adviser numbers with our diverse proposition covering all mortgage and protection advisers regardless of the stage in their career.
We’re also looking to deliver the next stages of initiatives like free mortgage leads and CeMAP training to support not only Access FS internally, but the financial services industry as a whole.
We’ve worked hard on training and development to make sure that every single adviser feels supported and has the opportunity to develop their customer skills, business acumen and new business strategies.
You previously described Consumer Duty as a core principle of the firm. How has this changed the way you approach business, and how has it impacted your clients?
We have always put our customers first, so adhering to Consumer Duty was an easy segue for us. It did galvanise us to make a lot of changes, though.
We reflected on and formalised our processes, making sure that our products are always fairly priced and communicated clearly at all stages of the client journey, and that vulnerable clients receive particular consideration.
We review the client journey through their eyes, pinpointing areas where we can support them better.
The management team meets regularly to assess feedback from staff and clients. This helps us understand where we can improve our processes and interactions to ensure excellent client outcomes.
At client-focused strategy meetings, we assess whether potential new products and services are suitable for our target markets and consider how best we can implement them for our clients. We challenge ourselves to demonstrate how these products or services will deliver fair value to clients.
Staff and adviser training and development is essential for helpful and accessible client support. We challenge our processes here, too, so we are confident that we are making it easier for clients to sort out problems, and switch or cancel products and services.
Our Consumer Duty Champion keeps us on our toes, making sure that our clients’ vulnerabilities are at the top of our agendas.
Consequently, we offer or suggest things like translation services, large-font documentation, chaperones at client meetings and breathing space for clients to reflect on our advice.
What trends have you identified within the market so far this year?
In the past few years, uncertainty around the pandemic and the economy triggered an increase in customers actively seeking financial products to protect their families.
With interest rates relatively high until July 2024, the property market was slow. Clients were cautious.
More clients would buy at auction, consider semi-commercial and commercial properties, and take on house in multiple occupation (HMO) conversions for increased profitability.
Now that inflation is stabilising and we’ve had a Base Rate cut, the mood is gradually changing and the property market seems to be gathering pace.
Access FS certainly values education and training, as evidenced by its Access FS Protection Academy – why was it important for the firm to provide this training, and how has it impacted the business?
Through education and training, we give every Access FS adviser a chance to become the best they can be – whether they are entirely new to the industry and looking to get into protection insurance, or they are a seasoned mortgage industry veteran.
All financial markets are evolving and adapting – we want to ensure that our advisers are right at the cutting edge.
We work on the understanding that driving the right behaviours with the right training and support will deliver better outcomes for our clients.
Essential to this is understanding compliance – it serves as a catalyst for sales success, not a constraint on our operations.
How do you foresee the market evolving in the next few years?
The property market will accelerate and evolve with stronger market sentiment, inflation stabilising, better rates and loan-to-value ratios.
Innovative new lenders will drive competition among lenders, which will be great for customers.
We are in talks with two exceptionally innovative new lenders, which will create fantastic opportunities for mortgage and protection advisers in Q4 and beyond.
I expect increased demand for bridging finance and commercial finance, and a mortgage product for first-time buyers that doesn’t require a deposit.
