When Alan Cleary retired from the mortgage industry in 2021 he thought his days of running banks were behind him.
After more than three decades building specialist lenders from the ground up, from BM Solutions in the early 2000s to Precise Mortgages and Charter Court Financial Services, which later merged with OneSavings Bank (OSB), the industry veteran was ready to step back.
Three years later, Cleary is back in the driving seat. Chetwood Bank has named him interim managing director of its mortgages division following the departure of Andrew Arwas, one of the bank’s original founders.
Arwas, who oversaw the launch of ModaMortgages and the acquisition of CHL Mortgages for Intermediaries, is stepping aside after almost a decade.
Cleary, who already chaired Chetwood’s mortgage advisory board, will hold the reins until a permanent successor is appointed early next year.
“I’d been enjoying retirement,” Cleary admits. “But the vision Chetwood has for increasing funding into the buy-to-let market and working with brokers to support landlords persuaded me to come back. It felt like the right moment to step up again.”
Cleary has seen every side of the UK mortgage market. Starting his career at a NatWest branch, he later ran retail mortgages at Birmingham Midshires, rebranded BM Solutions and introduced the “One Minute Mortgage” before moving further into specialist lending.
The moment that shaped him most, however, was not during the good years but the crash of 2008.
“We launched edeus hours before the financial crisis began to bite,” he recalls. “In a frothy market, everyone was doing well, even if they were making mistakes.
“But in the years after 2008, you had to really learn how to run a mortgage business properly. Me and the team that went on to build Precise Mortgages made a list of 10 things we would never do again. That list defined who we became as a lender.”
Top of that list was avoiding what he now calls the “foolish stuff”: risky self-cert products, lax valuations, and remortgaging properties every six months at spiralling prices.
“Looking back, some of it seems crazy. But those hard lessons made Precise Mortgages a better lender.”
DIGITAL-FIRST PLAYER
Chetwood Bank, founded in 2016 in Wrexham, has grown into a digital-first player with a
£5 billion balance sheet and seven forward flow partners, six in the buy-to-let space and one in bridging.
Its own mortgage division now operates under two distinct brands: ModaMortgages, aimed at occasional and semi-professional landlords with small to medium portfolios, the “vanilla to near prime” end of the spectrum; and CHL Mortgages for Intermediaries, serving experienced landlords and more complex cases where underwriters are likely to be more involved and exercise judgement.
“Brokers know the nuances between the two,” Cleary explains. “The key is making sure running dual brands benefits both the bank and intermediaries. As we expand into other asset classes, like bridging, we’ll decide which brand best suits that product.”
Bridging finance, he argues, is a natural fit: “Bridge-to-let works really well for properties that aren’t mortgageable at first – those without kitchens or bathrooms, for example. A bridging loan helps get them into shape, then a term mortgage takes over at lower cost. It makes sense for landlords and for us.”
Cleary is adamant that Chetwood’s growth strategy does not hinge on radical disruption.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel – the market doesn’t need that.”
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel – the market doesn’t need that. What it needs is funding, as much as it can get, to grow the size of the pie. We have a proven model that worked at Charter Court and Precise Mortgages. The challenge now is to pick the best parts of that and apply them to Chetwood.”
Future plans, he hints, include expansion into other mortgage asset classes, though details are under wraps for now.
Asked whether buy-to-let still has a future in the face of tighter regulation, higher taxation and rising interest rates, Cleary is bullish.
“Buy-to-let is resilient. Since 2010, governments of every stripe have chipped away at landlords with new rules and taxes, but the market is still here. Landlords adapt. Lenders adapt. The truth is, the more complicated it gets, the more opportunity it creates for specialists like us.”
POLITICAL FOOTBALL
He is less enthusiastic about the role politics plays in housing policy.
“Every government uses the housing market as a political football. We’ve had a revolving door of housing ministers that last about a year each. Until someone like the Bank of England is given a 50-year strategy for housing, it will keep changing. But lenders are used to that. We just get on with it.”
Despite the hype, Cleary is sceptical about artificial intelligence revolutionising the market any time soon.
“Technology’s great if it speeds things up and makes life easier for brokers and lenders. But will AI transform the entire marketplace? No chance. Mortgages move at glacial speed. Real change will only happen if a tech giant comes in with billions of dollars and shakes everything up. Could it happen? Maybe. Do I see it on the horizon? Not really. But who knows, I might just be a dinosaur.”
TRUST AND EMPOWERMENT
Cleary’s leadership style is rooted in trust and empowerment.
“We employ people who know what they’re doing. My philosophy is to let them shine. I’m not a micro-manager. Chetwood has a strong executive team across finance, savings and mortgages, led by Paul Noble as chief executive. My job is to make sure we’re aligned, motivated, and always match-fit.”
For Cleary, “match fitness” is more than a metaphor.
“I get up every day knowing I’m in competition with 100,000 other people trying to write the same mortgages. Unless we offer something distinctive, we won’t win. Too many people forget they’re in a competition. I always try to inject urgency.”
So what comes next?
Cleary’s appointment is explicitly interim. He will lead the mortgages division until early next year, before returning to his one-day-a-week role as chair of the mortgage advisory board.
“I’m glad to be back, albeit for five or six months. It’s good fun. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with brokers I’ve known for years and meeting the new generation coming through. Once a permanent MD is appointed, I’ll step back, but I’ll still be around to help shape strategy.”
Asked what guidance he would give to future leaders, Cleary’s answer is simple: work hard, stay urgent and never drift.
“You have to realise you’re in a competition. That means being in training all the time – changing it up, adapting to the market and staying sharp. The ones who drift get left behind.”
It is the kind of no-nonsense advice that has defined Cleary’s glittering career. And as Chetwood prepares for its next phase of growth, it is why the bank has put him back in the driving seat, at least for now.
