Stonebridge has appointed John Scrivens as its new head of sales. He joins the national mortgage and insurance network from Skipton Building Society, where he was employed for eight years, most recently as its intermediary development and leadership regional manager. Scrivens has over 25 years’ experience in financial services, and as part of his new role, he will lead the strategy to support firms looking to increase their income. He will also have some accountability for investments in the related financial services businesses, co-owned by the group. Scrivens, who is a member of the IMLA working group on diversity and inclusion, will report to Stonebridge’s chief executive officer, Rob Clifford.

Atom bank has again lowered rates on its prime mortgage range for residential customers, making it the eighth time the bank has reduced rates since August 2023. The bank has cut low and high LTV rates by up to 0.30%, with a five-year fix at 60% and 95% LTV now available from 4.84% and 5.34% respectively. A two-year fix at 95% LTV is also available at 5.99%. These changes follow last week’s announcement that Atom bank has been awarded best bank in the Smart Money People H2 2023 mortgage lender benchmark study, which covers mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the second half of 2023.

Foundation Home Loans has repriced selected products across its core buy-to-let range to incorporate rate reductions of up to 0.20%. The intermediary-only lender has lowered rates on its F1 two-year fixed rate range, with rates starting at 6.54% and 6.59% at 65% and 75% LTV respectively. The F2 two-year fixed rates at the same LTVs are available at 6.69% and 6.79% respectively. These products all come with a 1.50% fee. A 0.20% reduction has been made to Foundation’s standard two-year HMO and short-term let fixed rate products, with rates starting from 6.79% on HMOs and 6.94% on short-term lets.

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