Amicus praised for first stakeholder event

The first Amicus stakeholder event, which was held last week, saw decision makers from the specialist lender get together with 26 key stakeholder partners for an open exchange of views.

Topics under discussion included: growth, relationships, speed versus accuracy, proactive two-way communication and technology - and were chosen by representatives of Amicus’ valuers, solicitors and distributor panels.

Keith Aldridge, Managing Director at Amicus, said the lender had specifically chosen the stakeholder partners because the two sides had like-minded ambitions and would be honest about the way they did business.

“We have realised for some time that if we are to sustain the success we have achieved since our rebrand earlier this year, we would need to involve our key stakeholders more in the ongoing development of our expanding proposition,” said Keith.

Russell Martin, Owner and Chief Executive of Finance 4 Business, said the gathering, which may be repeated in six months’ time, was ‘thoroughly engaging and the candidness refreshing’.

“The ever expanding team are clearly not resting on their laurels and have ambitions to maintain their steep growth curve,” said Russell.

“It is events such as this that will, I am sure, enable them to continue their success and improve their service proposition to boot.”

Arwel Griffith, Senior Partner at Robert Sterling Surveyors, said it was an ‘extraordinary’ chance to meet the whole chain involved in a delivery.

“I was lucky enough to attend an innovative event not previously seen in this industry that delivered a cutting edge insight into other professions around us and who are equally as important as we are,” said Arwel.

Wayne Smethurst, who spoke on behalf of TFC Homeloans, said it was the first time he had seen a lender with a real desire to fully engage with all its stakeholders as a single group.

“Inviting surveyors, solicitors and brokers to find ways to improve your proposition was a brave move but one that ultimately should result in better consumer outcomes - and that can only be good for the industry as a whole,” added Wayne.

Before the event, Amicus held an internal debate about its merits, and despite being warned that such a move would be ‘very brave’, a decision to go ahead was unanimous.

“The Amicus values are founded on honest exchanges of opinion that deliver mutually agreed results, and the event proved our confidence that the occasion would be a resounding success was well founded,” said Keith.

“All we have to do now is stop talking and work on the fifteen or so action points it was agreed needed consideration ahead of the next workshop.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Wayne Smethurst was a Director at TFC Homeloans. This was incorrect.