19 February 2008
Platform announces business restructure
Platform, the intermediary lender of Britannia, has
announced today that it plans to make some significant changes to
the structure of its business, designed to ensure it remains
competitive when stability returns to the mortgage
market.
The planned changes follow a thorough assessment of Platform’s
business model and associated organisational structure.
As a result, Platform will focus on both its packager partners
and direct customers whose values, ethics and long term objectives
are aligned with its own. This approach will ensure it maintains
the right balance between prime, sub-prime, buy to let and
self-certification lending to achieve its targets.
The proposed structural changes to the business include the
creation of a Lending Services department consisting of a mortgage
processing team and a service management function. Platform’s Sales
team will be restructured to better support its customers and a new
Proposition department will be created combining the functions of
Marketing, Product Development and Ecommerce. All proposed
structural changes are subject to a period of consultation with
employee representatives.
In the meantime, the impact on Platform’s business from the
continuing difficult market conditions and the significant
reduction in business volumes due to the closure of securitisation
markets means that it has taken the regrettable decision to reduce
its workforce.
David Tweedy, Platform’s Managing Director said: “As one of the
longest established businesses in this market and, as part of the
Britannia Group, Platform places a great deal of value on its
people. We initially took the stance that we would wait until the
market stabilised before taking any action but unfortunately, owing
to worsening market conditions, we are forced to re-assess the
situation.
“We have been able to keep the number of job cuts to a minimum
through strict controls on recruitment throughout 2007 and by
utilising a new Groupwide redeployment process. The impact is much
less than we are seeing with most of our competitors but
nonetheless, it is likely that up to 65 colleagues from a total
headcount of 305 will lose their jobs.
“I am personally saddened by the need to make people redundant
but it is the right thing for us to do at this time to secure the
future of the business and ensure that we are in a good position to
react to any changes in the market when they occur.
“Platform remains a hugely ambitious organisation and its focus
on delivering the Group Strategy remains the same. With the ongoing
support of its parent Britannia, Platform continues to be fully
committed to the UK intermediary mortgage market.”
Platform’s customers were made fully aware of the current
situation today and have been reassured that the changes to the
structure of the organisation will further enhance Platform’s
service capacity.
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