Bluestone Mortgages’ CEO Steve Seal (pictured) is believed to have left the business, Specialist Lending Solutions understands.
Seal has worked at Bluestone Mortgages for around seven years, initially joining in 2017 as sales and marketing director before becoming chief executive in 2019.
During his tenure, the lender reached its £2bn lending milestone last year, assisting over 20,000 customers.
The firm was also bought by Shawbrook in June 2023, with Bluestone Mortgages saying at the time that it would benefit from the “financial strength” of the bank, allowing it to expand its growth plans.
Proposition-wise, the lender has evolved, exiting the buy-to-let (BTL) market and joining the Deposit Unlock scheme, the first specialist lender to do so.
Prior to his role at Bluestone Mortgages, Seal was the head of sales at OneSavings Bank for around two years. Before that, he was a national account manager at Virgin Money for approximately nine years.
He was previously district sales manager for Chelsea Building Society for around three years, and before that, he was a branch manager at Barclays for around two years.
Seal was also a co-opted director for the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) in 2022 and is currently the chair of the Specialist Mortgage Lenders Forum for UK Finance and a member of the board of trustees for Fighting With Pride.
He has also been a keen supporter of Mortgage Solutions‘ Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF), joining as a guest in the ongoing DIFF podcast series and offering insight for our Pride Month series.
Reece Beddall, sales and marketing director of Bluestone Mortgages, also recently left the business to return home to Australia.
Bluestone Mortgages declined to comment.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
