Pink adds to redundancy toll

It is understood that 34 employees have been made redundant with around 25 of those from the packaging side of the business.

Pink will also centralise its compliance team at its Lichfield office and away from its Brighouse centre.

The firm said it had half a dozen vacancies in other parts of the business and hopes to re-employ some of the staff facing redundancy within these roles.

In a statement to Mortgage Introducer Pink announced it was restructuring its business to reflect changing market conditions as well as its changing proposition to brokers.

The statement read: “The majority of Pink’s business is now on a direct to lender basis as more and more brokers become comfortable with electronic submission and lender criteria is simplified in niche areas.

“Pink Home Loans has managed to make many efficiency improvements within its packaging operation including a 30 per cent increase in case tracking usage, a significant increase in online DIPs and growth in its own branded product range including an application to completion service supported by in-house underwriting.

“While Pink will still have an active packaging operation, focused primarily on sub-prime, market conditions and improved administration processes have resulted in a restructure within this area.”

Tony Jones, managing director of Pink, expressed regret over the job losses but said they were necessary to ensure that the business could move forward.

“When I first came to Pink most of our business was packaged, but this has changed to direct, reflecting a general change in the market,” he said.

Jones said Pink was still entirely self-sufficient and had not had to

call on the resources of its parent company Skipton Building Society.

Barry Robson, managing director of Genesis, which also recently announced redundancies, commented: “I think the changes since ‘Mortgage Day’ took everyone in packaging by surprise.

“We believe that the confusion over KFIs mean that brokers are increasingly going direct to lender websites and by passing the packagers.”