Paradigm Mortgage Services and Paradigm Protect, the mortgage services and protection propositions, have announced the winners of its annual Lender and Provider Awards, which is now in its fifth year.

The awards were voted for by Paradigm’s directly authorised member firms each month and the results collated over the course of the 2018/19 financial year decide the winners.

The overall winners for 2018-19 are as follows:

• Best Overall Lender – Winner: NatWest.
• Best Residential Lender – Winner: Santander.
• Best Buy-to-let Lender – Winner: Kent Reliance.
• Best Specialist Lender – Winner: Kent Reliance.
• Best Equity Release Lender – Winner: Hodge Lifetime.
• Best Life Protection Provider – Winner: Legal & General.
• Best General Insurance Provider – Winner: Uinsure.
• Best Critical Illness Provider – Winner: LV=.
• Best Income Protection Provider – Winner: The Exeter.
• Best Group Risk Provider – UNUM.

Paradigm personnel also voted for their Strategic Partners of the Year awards, a special category for businesses which are judged to have excelled in their support of the Paradigm business and members. These Strategic Partner awards are split between both the mortgage and protection side of the business. The winners are:

• Strategic Lender Partner of the Year – Precise Mortgages.
• Strategic Provider Partner of the Year – AIG Life.

Each month, Paradigm’s members are encouraged to vote for their top three lenders and providers in each category, enabling Paradigm to provide an ongoing snapshot of advisers’ views throughout the course of the year. Paradigm says this annual process ensures those lenders and providers who consistently deliver service excellence are appropriately recognised.

Bob Hunt, chief executive of Paradigm Mortgage Services/Paradigm Protect, said: “Firstly, we’d like to offer our very warmest congratulations from everyone at Paradigm to all our winners in this year’s Awards. Given that these results are collated over the course of the last year, those who have produced consistent excellence are rewarded for their efforts and it gives a very real view of which lenders and providers are held in the highest regard.

“Working with quality lenders and providers has always been incredibly important to both Paradigm Mortgage Services and Paradigm Protect and we continue to add businesses to our panels to ensure our members have access to the broadest range of products and services available in the market.

“Competition is undoubtedly heating up across many sectors and those that have taken the plaudits this year will know they cannot afford to rest on their laurels given the quality of the propositions that are now available to advisers. This is all good news for our member firms and I’m sure they’ll continue to have their say on the top performers over the course of the next 12 months.”