From both a company and industry perspective, 2016 has been a significant year. 

It started back in March with the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD), which we soon learnt was going to be a great exercise in brokers and lenders working together to navigate change. 

Working in this way to overcome challenges, agree timelines and share information really did highlight the power of partnership and despite it being an extremely busy time, it’s a time we can look back on with a smile, as it reinforced the team spirit and mutual support that we share within our industry.

•   Together funds £1m regulated bridge in under a week
•   Together saves large commercial property deal
•   Looking back on bridging and Brexit

Following this, we had the buy-to-let tax changes, with all the accompanying speculation regarding the impact they would have on the property market. From a personal point of view, we had a strong year in the buy-to-let sector and made a raft of changes to our buy-to-let product range, including lowering rates. The success of the market during a turbulent time makes us confident that the property market will remain resilient during further changes in 2017. 

For the group as a whole, we’ve had a phenomenal year with annual lending topping £1bn for the first time in our 42-year history, and our loan book now stands at over £1.8bn. We couldn’t have achieved this without the help of our broker partners.  

It’s been a busy year too; that’s for sure. We attended more than 40 industry events – meeting over 5,000 brokers – visited16 road shows and were present at 10 award ceremonies, highlighting the wealth of events in the broker industry calendar. We also hosted plenty of our own events, including our MCD roundtable debate and our famed annual golf day – always one of my personal favourites.

Finally, as we enter 2017 with a firm, new focus on corporate responsibility, we’ll be supporting more charity and community initiatives as part of our ‘Let’s Make It Count’ campaign. Our broker community gave us huge support this year, helping us to raise £26,000 for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, so we’re looking forward to working together next year to help more great causes.

As I sign off for the last time this year, I wish you a very happy holiday season, with very best wishes for the new year from all at Together. Here’s to making 2017 another record-breaker!