Standard & Poor has affirmed the ranking of ‘above average’ for Pepper UK as a primary and special servicer of residential and commercial mortgages in the UK.

The ratings agency refers to this ranking as a servicer who demonstrates very high ability, efficiency, and competence in managing medium- to large-size portfolios, as well as solid management experience, an acceptable track record, internal practices and policies that meet industry or regulatory standards, and a managed portfolio performance history similar to or better than industry averages.

Pepper UK’s residential mortgages portfolio increased by 29% to £13.3 billion at year-end 2018, of which 94% is performing, from £10.3 billion at year-end 2017.

The ranking reflects on changes to the business leadership noting the internal promotions of the CEO and COO in 2018 and 2019, necessary to the development of the business. It also notes the elevated turnover rates across the organisation in 2018, high number of induction and ongoing training hours, relative to peers and the company’s effective and frequent updated integrated servicing platform.

Gerry McHugh (pictured), Pepper UK’s CEO, said: “Over recent years we have seen significant growth to our overall portfolio of assets under management (AUM), our experience and trained staff have led us to on-boarding some key players in the market including Habito and Optimum Credit to service their loan books.

“These ratings demonstrate how much we are continuing to develop as a business towards our journey to becoming the leading mortgage servicer in the UK.”