Our Insights

by Craig Middleton, Mortgage Sales & Distribution Manager, Harpenden Building Society As we continue to navigate through the current pandemic many aspects of life are changing as the ‘new normal’ is embraced. But what is the new normal? Working from home is one example and has created a whole set of opportunities for the mortgage […]

by Craig Middleton, Mortgage Sales & Distribution Manager, Harpenden Building Society Could empty retail units provide a solution to housing shortages? During recent months we’ve all needed to adapt to a life changed by COVID-19. There’s not been a more disruptive incident in a generation with its fallout impacting our futures in ways we never […]

by Graeme Aitken, Business Development Manager, Harpenden Building Society The Coronavirus has, without exception, changed the lives of everyone in our country in one way or another. At this time, everyone is focusing on the health and wellbeing of family, friends and communities, and managing financial pressures and uncertainty. However, when the lockdown is lifted, […]

by Jean Errington, Business Development Manager, Harpenden Building Society The lockdown is affecting all areas of every business, especially the travel and tourism sectors. The Coronavirus outbreak is causing a widespread reconsideration of holiday choices, with many signs that more and more people are looking at domestic, UK destinations rather than the overseas adventures that […]

by Craig Middleton, Mortgage Sales and Distribution Manager, Harpenden Building Society In February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the overall employment  rate increased by 0.6% year on year (Dec 2018 vs Dec 2019) to a record high of 76.5% (since ONS figures began in January to March 1971). Employment is defined by […]

by Graeme Aitken, Business Development Manager, Harpenden Building Society In January of this year, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors released its Residential Market Survey (1). The overwhelming sentiment was one of positivity; buyer enquiries, agreed sales and new instructions are all increasing. House prices are rising nationally and respondents were upbeat on the outlook […]

by Martin Langlands, Chief Risk Officer, Harpenden Building Society One of the long-term priorities of the FCA is to ‘ensure fair pricing in financial services.’ In July 2018, the FCA released a discussion paper titled DP18/6, as they were concerned that competition was not working well enough in the cash savings market. This led to […]

by Roy Badcock, Senior Manager, Harpenden Building Society Does a day go by without a headline appearing about the transformative effect of ‘fintech’ or new technology? Some of my colleagues were at the Mortgage Business Expo conference in London recently and technology was a popular topic of conversation. Indeed, one of the conference seminars, ‘How […]

by Martin Langlands, Chief Risk Officer, Harpenden Building Society A short while ago, I wrote an article which explained how a discussion paper jointly issued by The Bank of England, The PRA and The FCA has the potential to change the way all financial institutions might be asked to operate in the future. The paper […]

by Martin Langlands, Chief Risk Officer, Harpenden Building Society In July 2018, The Bank of England, The PRA and The FCA issued a joint discussion paper called ‘Building the UK financial sector’s operational resilience’. The paper also goes by the name of DP 01/18. You may have seen some commentary in the trade press but […]