With the Mortgage Business Expo opening tomorrow, all eyes will on London over the next couple of days. Bridging & Commercial spoke to Steve Barber, Managing Director of Bridging Finance Solutions, to get a lender’s perspective of what will be happening of the next couple of days.

Along with many colleagues and associates within the mortgage industry, I will be heading to Olympia in anticipation of what promises to be both an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable event. 

Industry events such as this not only provide excellent opportunities for networking and  keeping up to date with the latest industry trends, they also offer rare but valuable time away from the day-to-day pressures of the office.  Two days immersion into the ‘bigger picture’ of our industry allows time for reflection.

I hope to come away from the event with a much better feel for how the market is currently operating and a deeper understanding of general attitudes about the current property finance sector as a whole.

The past twelve months have seen significant changes within the bridging sector, not least of which is a surge in the number of lenders and this is certainly reflected at events such as this. As bridging has become a more recognised and mainstream form of funding, there is a much greater focus on short term finance.

Each year our industry faces different challenges and opportunities - this year I am hoping to gain an insight into the new Buy to Let products.  From a bridging perspective, I am particularly interested in the criteria that primarily fund our exit routes to repay the bridging loans we provide.

The focus remains on the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) and the European Mortgage Directive. The AMI Seminar programme is comprehensive and I will endeavour to attend at least two sessions, the Update on the Mortgage Market from the FSA and the Potential Impacts of the European Mortgage Directive on the Market are two that have immediately caught my attention. 

It is easy to be mistaken into believing that what you take away from this event is all top-down knowledge – learning about the latest views and policies from the powers that be.  But to me it’s as much about understanding our customers, our competitors and our consumers.  The event will be a melting pot of residential and commercial mortgage lenders, brokers, intermediaries and industry bodies.

I will also try to use this event to gain valuable feedback from intermediaries and brokers. After all, it is only by understanding what they are looking for that we can continue to provide a valued service and product range.

Whilst Bridging Finance Solutions does not have a stand, we will be very much present and I am looking forward to meeting up with colleagues we have already done business with, and hopefully meeting a few new faces too.