NatWest Intermediary Solutions (NWIS) has created a new phone-based business development manager (BDM) and recruited four new BDMs. It has also added a number of people to its BDM Support team.

The team will be managed by newly-promoted Shaun Osborn Da-Silva. He joined NWIS earlier this year as a phone BDM and will now head up its third phone-based BDM team. He has 10 years’ experience with NatWest, and previous to joining the intermediary business held a variety of roles including an in-branch mortgage adviser and managing the bank’s SME lending at a number of branches in Norfolk.

The new phone-based BDMs are Sharon Hartshorne, Mark Gibson, Robert White and Tim Orr.

Hartshorne has over 30 years’ experience in financial services including roles with Halifax’s intermediary business as channel development manager and operations manager. She will be working with brokers in Manchester, Burnley, Bristol and Essex.

Gibson has worked for the RBS Group for the last seven years within the mortgage processing units. He will be working with a panel of intermediaries based in Southend, Twickenham, Birmingham and Glasgow.

White joins NatWest from the Mortgage Advice Bureau where he spent the last four years working as a broker. Previous to that he worked as a mortgage adviser for Barclays.

Orr is returning to NatWest after having a spell working as in insurance broker. He has 10 years’ experience in the mortgage industry having previously been a phone BDM with NatWest/RBS.

NatWest has also restructured the way it supports its BDMs and their brokers once an application has been submitted. It has recruited eight new members to its BDM Support unit and from next week it will have teams dedicated to supporting specific BDMs’ brokers. This, the lender claims, will help brokers to establish closer working relationships with specific individuals in the unit to help them with issues such as dealing with underwriters, application processing and completions.

Mark Bullard, head of sales for NatWest Intermediary Solutions, said: “We have continued to grow our intermediary facing team as part of our absolute commitment to the broker sector. We have been working really hard this year to recruit the right calibre people to enable us to offer an enhanced service to the increased number of intermediaries wanting to do business with us.

“I am delighted that we have been able to find individuals of such high quality to introduce to our broker facing and support teams that will enable our BDMs to dedicate more time to their broker panels.

“We place great emphasis on getting our day-to-day relationships with brokers right and I believe that Shaun and his team, together with the new recruits to the BDM Support team will embed this with the brokers they deal with.”