Legal Work

Blue graphic split diagonally showing a gavel striking a house icon with broken pieces flying off. Text reads “Legal Work” at the top and “When Conveyancing Goes Wrong Uncovered” at the bottom, representing legal issues in the conveyancing process.

Legal Work | In a recent roundtable led by Liz Syms, CEO of Connect for Intermediaries, conveyancing challenges emerged as a significant barrier to improving clients’ mortgage resilience. One striking example involved a £200,000 error in which funds were mistakenly transferred to a client rather than to the lender. This mishap illustrates the growing risks […]

Financial advisers | What Do Customers Want From an Adviser?

Financial advisers

Life is inherently uncertain. Offering expert financial guidance during a pandemic presents unique challenges for advisers. What are your clients’ genuine expectations and desires in this evolving landscape? Clients seek expertise, empathy, and reassurance from financial advisers. They deal with unprecedented economic shifts, job insecurities, and health concerns. Thus, advisers’ holistic and compassionate approach is […]

Offset Mortgages Explained

Square blue graphic with a wave-style gradient background. Large white text reads “Offset Mortgages Explained” with “Smarter Interest Savings.” underneath. Along the bottom are simple finance icons: a house with a pound symbol, stacked coins with piggy banks, and a jar filled with pound coins, alongside a percentage symbol and downward arrow to suggest reduced interest costs.

Offset Mortgages Explained: Keep Your Savings Working for You. Offset mortgages are a clever solution for homeowners who want to reduce the interest they pay without locking away their savings. By linking your savings account to your mortgage, you only pay interest on the difference – effectively making your money work harder while staying fully […]

Financial and Mortgage Resilience

Square 600x600 financial graphic in light blue and dark blue showing the words Financial and Mortgage Resilience in Open Sans font above icons of a calculator, a hand holding a house, rising financial arrows, and a pound symbol representing commercial financial stability.

The events of 2020 underscored the critical importance of financial and mortgage resilience for UK households and advisers alike. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered widespread economic disruption, exposing deep vulnerabilities in income stability and the UK mortgage market. It became clear that without proactive planning, many clients were unprepared for the financial shocks that followed. Government […]

Open Finance

Blue presentation-style graphic titled “Open Finance” with the subtitle “Lockdown Separates Digital Leaders & Laggards”. The image is split diagonally: the left side shows a bright cluster of connected geometric shapes and network lines labelled “Digital Leaders”, while the right side shows a darker fragmented cluster of cubes and shapes labelled “Laggards”, suggesting a divide in digital progress.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of Open Finance, digital transformation is no longer optional, it’s essential. From startups to global enterprises, organisations across the UK are increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure to drive operational resilience and customer engagement. The pandemic catalysed the mass adoption of digital platforms, prompting businesses to adapt quickly. […]

Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt: opportunity for brokers to help clients. Square graphic in dark and light blue with white text and a subtle credit card and upward arrow icon.

How Brokers Support Clients with Persistent Credit Card Debt.  Liz Syms, CEO and Founder of Connect for Intermediaries, highlights the vital role that brokers play in supporting individuals struggling with persistent credit card debt. This need became even more urgent following a major regulatory shift in 2018, when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced new […]

Specialist Mortgage Brokers

“Square 600x600px graphic with a two-tone blue background. At the top, in large dark blue Open Sans text, it reads ‘Specialist Mortgage Brokers’. Centered below is a rectangular portrait photo of a smiling woman with straight dark brown hair, wearing a navy and white polka-dot top, on a light grey background. The design uses only light blue and dark blue

Liz Syms on FCA’s Mortgage Market Study: A Resilience-Focused Perspective for Specialist Mortgage Brokers.  Liz Syms, CEO of Connect for Intermediaries, shares a specialist broker’s perspective on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) final Mortgage Market Study, a pivotal review with implications for adviser-led resilience planning. The FCA’s comprehensive report reviews the first-charge residential mortgage market […]

Broker Lender Panel

Square 600×600 graphic in two-tone blue. Large bold uppercase text reads “BROKER LENDER PANEL” stacked in three lines near the top. A thin vertical divider line sits below. Under it, smaller uppercase text asks: “CAN BROKER ADVICE ON WHOLE-OF-MARKET?” on a light-blue background, with dark-blue lettering.

Broker Lender Panel | The mortgage market landscape has evolved significantly in recent years, creating greater complexity even within the mainstream sector. Liz Syms, CEO and Founder of Connect, emphasises the necessity for brokers to stay informed about the evolving dynamics of the mortgage market. A depth of knowledge is now required for a single […]