Each week, the editorial team of Mortgage Solutions will select our highlights of the week for your enjoyment.
We kick off our editor’s picks this week with an explainer of base rates and swap rates and the impact on mortgage pricing considering the base rate decision on Thursday. The base rate was lowered for the first time since 2020 by 0.25% to 5%.
The piece outlined how tracker and standard variable rates (SVRs) would most likely fall, but fixed rate pricing may be slower to fall as base rate cuts have already been accounted for in swap rates, which are used by lenders to price their fixed rate mortgages.
Next on the editor’s picks list is an interview with Nadine Edwards, national account manager at NatWest, about the firm’s plans around its proposition and strategy going forward.
The FCA’s update a year on from Consumer Duty saying that the regulation was already having a “tangible impact” was also of interest.
A win for the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) caught our eye, with protection out of scope from the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Advice Guidance Boundary Review.
Finally, rounding out the editor’s picks list, Paragon’s Louisa Sedgwick and Jonathan Workman along with Arindom Basu, founder and CEO of Digilytics, video interview talking about its origination platform also piqued our interest this week.
Our lending journey is a ‘win for all of us’, says NatWest’s Edwards
FCA says protection is out of scope of Advice Guidance Boundary Review in win for AMI
Paragon prepares to roll out origination platform with ‘upfront decisioning’
What do you think of our picks? Let us know what your top stories this week were in the comments.
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.
