Westmarq has challenged mortgage lenders to move more of their valuation business away from the surveying industry’s dominant players as it looks to establish itself as a major alternative in the market.
Richard Sexton used the official launch of the former Legal & General Surveying Services business to argue that concentration in the surveying market is restricting innovation.
Speaking on a panel debate last night at the Sky Garden in the City of London to an audience which Westmarq says represented lenders covering 88% of the mortgage market (main picture), Sexton urged lenders to consider allocating even 20% of their valuation work to an alternative provider.
The launch follows Beach Equity’s acquisition of Legal & General Surveying Services from Legal & General late last year and its subsequent rebrand as Westmarq.
‘STIFLES INNOVATION’
Sexton says: “In the industry there is a duopoly. I’m partly responsible for creating it.
“But it stifles innovation. If you give us even 20% of your allocation, we could provide more and be more innovative.”
Westmarq is positioning itself around a proposition that allows lenders to choose valuation and surveying solutions according to their own risk appetite rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.
Its pitch to lenders centres on partnership, cost and speed, with the business aiming to help clients lend “quickly, cheaply, effectively and safely”.
Westmarq says its technology can also take a proposition from offer to market in around three hours.
‘OUT OF TESTING THE WATER MODE’
Sexton says the business has changed substantially since the transaction, combining people from the former Legal & General operation with new recruits from across the industry.
“We have got the business out of testing-the-water mode,” he says.
“We have a really strong team. We’ve got people from the legacy business enhanced by industry big hitters, so we’ve got the best of both worlds.
“We want to get out who we are and what we stand for on a personal basis and give people confidence back. We’ve got a great team.
“Allow people to have fun. When the fun starts, creativity comes.”
LENDER CHOICE
Over the next 12 months, Westmarq plans to optimise its technology while working more closely with lenders to understand how they want to use valuation technology and where new systems can be introduced.
Sexton says success will be about facilitating rather than dictating how lenders operate.
“We want to facilitate lenders to lend,” he says.
“Enable lenders to go down whatever path they want to lend and help them to do that.”
The wider message from the launch was that valuation services should be built around individual lenders’ requirements, risk appetites and commercial objectives rather than forcing every lender through the same process.
Sexton says the opportunity for Westmarq is to work with lenders as a partner, understanding their goals and helping them reach them “quickly, cheaply, effectively and safely”.
He also revealed the blooper real of names the company considered before settling on Westmarq, including Surveyo; Surveyon; Survista; Survonic; Land & Logic; Survey; Lendria; Truvient; Re:Val; Valera; Metriqo; Groundwell; Corebright; Certura; Certiam; Valify; Foundata; ValMetrix; Cerntana; Valpoint; Kinoval; Meridian; Sentinel West; Geologic; Constellation and Enki, the ancient Sumerian god of wisdom, water, intelligence and creation.
Main picture: Tommy O’Sullivan, managing partner, Beach Equity; Jamie Elliot, chief operating officer, Westmarq and Richard Sexton, managing director, Westmarq.
