What do you with a brand like John Charcol? The firm started in a blaze of glory, one of the pioneering London brokerages. The sale to Bradford & Bingley showed entrepreneurs just why they set up financial services intermediaries, to make a small fortune among other things. Charcol online set a high standard for the on-line offering of mortgages. It came close to becoming something most intermediaries in financial services have failed to be, a recognisable brand.
Within B&B, we are told, Charcol was used as a template for the Marketplace as B&B itself sought a role as a national intermediary. That vision however ended, with the departure of one chief, the elevation of another and a decision to concentrate on mortgages both sub prime and buy-to-let. Although a mortgage business, the intermediary vision was abandonned.
The story since Charcol, then John Charcol, became independent again has been one of a business seeking not just a role but also profitability. Somehow it just hasn’t cracked it. Founders, who bought the firm back have found themselves reaching back into their pockets again and again waiting for the mortgage market recovery. A tied deal with L&G on protection, viewed by much of the market as a lifeline, led to all sorts of mutterings about exactly what an independent mortgage broker should offer besides independent mortgage advice.
But you can still see why it was thought worth picking up by Towergate, presumably for a song. Its biggest assets remain the brand, and of course Ray Boulger. It also sees Ian Darby given a chance to make a real go of things again. He has to ask himself how have other brokerages have made less noise but proved more resilient in this toughest of markets, how come their model works when Charcol’s hasn’t. Is it the market or is it the engine that doesn’t work. I can’t help think it is the latter and that is needs more than fine tuning particularly when we still don’t know what a normal mortgage market looks like.
