Mortgage and insurance network Stonebridge achieved record results for appointed representative (AR) recruitment into the business during January 2020.

28 new registered individuals joined the network during the month, of which 15 were recruited to join existing Stonebridge AR firms. This brought the total number of advisers within the network up to 666 across 325 firms.

The network attributed the rise to the work of its marketing, recruitment and onboarding teams, its proposition, as well as its continued focus on supporting existing member firms who wish to expand their businesses with new adviser growth.

Stonebridge also revealed strong levels of activity throughout January with mortgage application numbers up 13.2% across the entire network, and 5.3% up on a per adviser basis, when compared to January 2019.

Jo Carrasco, business partnerships director at Stonebridge, said: “2019 was a very positive year for Stonebridge and I’m pleased to see we have kicked off 2020 in a very similar fashion, especially in terms of the record levels of recruitment.

“Many in the housing and mortgage markets are talking about the impact of a ‘Boris Bounce’ and there’s no doubt we’ve seen heightened mortgage activity levels in both purchase and the remortgage applications.

“We now await the measures to be announced in the Budget and are hopeful they’ll provide a further catalyst to the market, perhaps in terms of stamp duty incentives, which have historically generated greater activity levels particularly in purchasing.

“Last month’s Stonebridge conference focused to a great extent on the protection opportunity and we continue to encourage firms to do all they can to ensure clients have all the cover their circumstances demand. Plus, we will continue to support firms’ expansion plans into other sectors and to help them develop their own internal recruitment which will allow them to meet the growing demand for advice.”