Mortgage Soup fires the questions at Mark Tosetti, CEO of CAL and director of partnerships at Movera.
Mortgage Soup (MS): Movera’s mission is to “redefine the home moving experience.” That’s quite a bold ambition. What does that mean in practical terms, and how do the seven brands within the group work together to deliver it?
Mark Tosetti (MT): Our stance at Movera is that moving home shouldn’t feel like a web of endless challenges. To move house today, buyers and sellers must manage multiple touchpoints with their broker, conveyancer, agent and lender. It’s all too easy for things to stall and go wrong.
When we talk about “redefining the experience“, we mean utilising technology, the combined expertise of those from both inside and outside the sector, and data sharing to make every step of the way clearer, simpler and faster for customers.
Crucially at Movera, while each of our brands is focused on a different part of that customer journey, together they form one connected ecosystem.
As such, we’re in an ideal position to spot the pain points and work to redefine that process, hopefully resulting in fewer surprises and more control for the client.
MS: Movera brings together businesses with deep roots and very distinct identities – from ONP Solicitors and LMS to Broker Conveyancing and Agent Conveyancing. How do you preserve that individuality while creating a unified sense of purpose?
MT: Each of the Movera brands has its own strengths and heritage in the sector, and it’s always been important to us that we retain that. Broker Conveyancing is trusted by mortgage advisers. Agent Conveyancing is trusted by agents.
ONP is established in the conveyancing space and LMS has huge traction with lenders. We’re not interested in flattening this into a single business; but we do want to connect them through shared data and shared systems. And by extension, that also generates a shared sense of purpose across the brands.
Our employees know they are working towards that same shared goal, but they’ve got their own part to play as experts in their own particular field and the brand they are a part of.
MS: Many mortgage brokers say the conveyancing stage remains the biggest pinch point in the homebuying process. What is Movera doing to make that experience faster, more transparent and less stressful for both advisers and clients?
MT: At Broker Conveyancing, for example, we are working hard to redefine and redevelop what brokers and can expect from doing business with us. Through our Broker Hub, advisers can see exactly where a case is, what’s holding it up and what is needed next.
For clients that ensures surprises are kept to a minimum and provides greater clarity throughout the journey.
Is instant conveyancing possible? Maybe. But we want to achieve a process that feels more manageable, less chaotic and less frustrating for all parties involved. And that’s work you can see happening across all Movera brands.
MS: You’ve spoken a lot about data, digital platforms and process optimisation. Where is technology making the most tangible difference in improving communication and turnaround times across your network?
MT: With government initiatives of shared data platforms and collaborative industry projects such as the work of the OPDA and Project 28, it is clear there is a drive towards the use of shared data.
And given that many customers are now completing their ID and KYC checks online, we are now in a good place for this data to be shared.
However, what we haven’t cracked yet, beyond the Movera model, is total shared visibility. We desperately need to create an environment where all parties in a transaction can input data, as well as have full visibility of the information others in the chain have provided.
That shared visibility is the key to resolving anxiety from all parties about whether a case is moving or not.
We must also get more operationally focused and utilise smarter scheduling during busy periods, even shifting work between firms if we need to, so that nothing sits idle. We can learn from other industries how to plug those gaps.
MS: The industry has talked for years about creating a more ‘joined-up’ home moving journey between agents, brokers, conveyancers and lenders. From where you sit, how close are we to achieving that – and what still needs to change?
MT: We’re certainly getting there and the technology we need to a large extent exists. What we are missing is alignment. Lots of different players in the chain currently hold data in different formats.
We need to align those formats with data standards and ensure that everyone is willing to share it. And that’s something the OPDA, LMS and initiatives like Project 28 are all working towards.
Our role is to bridge that gap between parties so that data can flow securely, enabling clients to see one joined–up journey.
And I’m sure that at Movera, we’re not the only ones with a desire and ambition to do that; but our business model puts us in an ideal position to do so. Across our brands, we can see the entire home moving process and we can see it at scale. We’re unique in the market in that respect, so we have a duty to do what we can to push things forward.
MS: The past two years have been challenging for everyone in the property chain, with fluctuating transaction volumes and tighter margins. How has Movera adapted to maintain performance and support its partners during this period?
MT: Across Movera, all the brands have used this slower period to get fitter and grow new partnerships. From a CAL perspective, we’ve taken the time to transform it into a market leading hub that interacts with brokers and agents in a way they haven’t seen before.
We’ve automated more manual steps and launched new streams of opportunity for brokers, improving their experience and giving them more choice.
We’ve also kept our pricing stable, enabling our partners, brokers and clients to lean into us as the market has picked up. Thanks to all of this we’re now able to move quicker and with less friction.
Crucially, our view isn’t transactional. We’re willing to take one or two steps back if we think that strategically, and in the long term, it’s the right thing to do. And we’ve done that across the patch at Movera over the last two years.
MS: You’re known for championing data-driven decision making. How are you using insights from across the Movera brands to improve efficiency, predict demand or enhance client satisfaction?
MT: Data doesn’t just inform it predicts. We’re analysing hundreds of transactions a year across that wider Movera ecosystem and we’re able to share those insights to inform decisions. We can assess how all cases are performing and what types of cases tend to progress slowly or encounter problems.
We can also anticipate from experience when demand will spike and act accordingly to ensure our business keeps moving.
We’re not guessing. We’re acting based on clear data points and evidence. And when you do that, I think that your clients and partners can feel the difference.
MS: Collaboration seems to be at the heart of the Movera model. How are you working with mortgage lenders and intermediaries, and what kinds of partnerships are you most excited about developing next?
MT: At Movera, we like to think of our partners not as suppliers or clients, but as shared outcome partners, with both parties gaining significant value from that connection.
With lenders that means connecting systems so data flows easier between the mortgage and conveyancing stages. We’re also able to provide them with new products, new workflows and new ways of working that enable them to increase their own market opportunity. That’s really important.
With brokers it’s about giving them a single site – like our hub – to handle conveyancing, remortgaging and other home-moving services.
Looking ahead, we’re excited about developing more of these shared outcome partnerships. As of today, our platform is powering a number of key brands in the home-moving space, and that Movera infrastructure and service excellence we’re delivering every day for those clients can be easily adapted behind the scenes for others.
MS: You talk about fostering a culture of accountability, balance and performance. What does that look like day-to-day, and how do you keep people motivated when the market itself can be unpredictable?
MT: It’s all about balance in the conveyancing market. Giving people enough stretch but not burning them out. That’s something we’re conscious of as the market has struggled to find that balance for many years.
But with a training academy and the help of our Learning and Development team, as well as some highly robust capacity planning across the whole group, this is something we’re navigating well.
When we talk about performance, what we mean is we do what we say we do and we do it consistently. So, it’s important that across Movera and across each brand, intake is closely aligned with operational excellence.
Combine that with our focus on understanding and interpreting the data available to us and a desire to make collaboration across our brands a reality, and that enables us to meet service standards that we can be truly proud of.
And pride plays a key role in the development of a positive company culture. When good people are motivated, they see progress, not just pressure.
MS: If we look five years ahead, what does the home moving experience look like if Movera achieves everything you’ve set out to do – and what role do you see brokers and lenders playing in that future?
MT: In five years, the whole ecosystem should feel connected and transparent. But most of all I hope it will feel calm. Brokers and lenders will of course remain the relationship managers for the client and provide that trusted advice; but the experience behind them will be powered massively by shared data and automation.
In an ideal world, clients will track their move a bit like they track their Amazon parcel, not by chasing the depot, the man in the van, the seller and everyone else in the chain, but by using one aligned system that tracks their transaction from end to end.
If you’re moving home today, it doesn’t feel like a digital, data-driven customer journey – the kind we are all so used to in our day-to-day lives.
But if we can implement systems that allow us to successfully share data and nail down the ideal customer journey, that will make a huge difference. Our role at Movera, across the group of brands, is to make that possible.
Ultimately, it’s the quiet technology that makes the biggest life transaction smoother and calmer for everybody.
