Mortgage Force, based in East Midlands has now been taken over by West Bromwich Building Society. Acquisition of Mortgage Force with a £1 billion mortgage franchise business per year has now made West Brom create the fourth major new division of the Black Country group.
Mortgage Force is known to issue licenses to about 100 franchisee mortgage advisers countrywide. The company’s headquarters at Derby still have 50 people operating there autonomously. West Bromwich development director, Roger Smith said that the Building society had major plans to augment growth for Mortgage Force and raise its £1 billion mortgage lending figure to £5 billion, with its first goal being turning the present number of franchisees into two-fold in the coming 12 to 18 months.
While the cost of the deal is still not known, what has become very apparent is that West Bromwich seems to have carved a niche for itself in the housing market, presenting path breaking financial records for six years in a row. It has now emerged as the ninth biggest building society in UK with assets worth £6 billion. The takeover of Mortgage Force is being seen by West Brom as a favorable supplement to its group activities and a significant move towards fresh national markets.
About Mortgage Force choosing West brom, its chief executive, Robert Clifford said that they were aiming to be part of a larger group to attain rapid growth, and “the West Brom was an obvious choice given their reputation in building and expanding subsidiary businesses."
Posted
on : Fri, 25 Mar 2005 00:00 GMT | Mortgages News
By : Paula Jenkins
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