NatWest Intermediary Solutions is this weekend introducing a new Saturday opening for LiveTALK, its broker instant messaging service.

Available to all brokers, it will open on Saturdays from 9am-1pm, to provide additional support for the period during which the MMR changes are being introduced.

Launched four years ago, LiveTALK has become the primary broker channel for enquires about pre-submission client applications. In response to broker demand, last July the weekday opening hours were extended by 45 minutes to 9am-6pm (from 9am-5.15pm). Over the last few weeks, NatWest has been working with some intermediary firms to trial a Saturday service.

Sarah Taylor, service development manager at NatWest Intermediary Solutions, said: “Technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the relationship between brokers and lenders. LiveTALK has been a resounding success with the thousands of brokers who use it regularly.

“With intermediaries expected to be extra busy over the next few weeks dealing with some of the changes being introduced to comply with MMR, we want to be able to support them. Having trialled a Saturday service, we are confident that we will be able to provide those brokers working on the weekends with the help and guidance they are looking for.

“Our broker satisfaction survey shows that those who use LiveTALK, love it. They enjoy the way that technology facilitates human interaction in a way that gives them greater flexibility and time than, say, a phone call. We have an experienced and highly skilled team of people who conduct the LiveTALK conversations which complements and supports the BDM contact that brokers have.”

NatWest has recruited a number of new members to the team in the last six months that has enabled it to increase significantly the amount of chats it is able to conduct each day.

The team deals with an average of 18,000 LiveTALK sessions a month and has been consistent in achieving a 97+% satisfaction rating from brokers using this service, it claimed.