Norton Group has appointed Rachel Wilks as its new operations director. She joins the firm from Capital One where she worked for 24 years, most recently in a senior leadership position, where she was responsible for the firm’s servicing, change and delivery teams. In her new role, Wilks will oversee the customer operations, tech, change and delivery teams. She will be responsible for establishing, implementing and maintaining robust policies and procedures to ensure the business is able to meet and monitor its regulatory obligations, with a focus on good customer outcomes. This includes ensuring Norton continues to offer potential customers the right product through its team of underwriters at Norton Home Loans and providing support for those customers facing difficulty.

Hanley Economic Building Society has introduced a two-year interest-only self-build variable discount mortgage with an initial pay rate of 6.15%, available up to 70% LTV. It comes with a non-refundable application fee of £299, an arrangement fee of £1,199, which is deducted from the loan on completion, and a valuation fee which is subject to property value. A minimum loan size of £30,000 is applicable with a maximum loan size of £500,000 at 70% LTV, £1m at 60% LTV and £1.25m at 50% LTV.

Solutions by Foundation has reduced pricing on selected semi-commercial products by up to 0.2%. One is available for expat borrowers and one for standard use, with rates now starting from 6.89%. For semi-commercial properties, the lender requires a residential valuation and rental income both in excess of 60% of the total of the property. The specialist buy-to-let brand of Foundation Home Loans has also launched a new two-year, fixed-rate limited edition product, exclusively for expat borrowers financing a standard BTL property type, available up to 75% LTV, with a rate 6.64% and a fee of 1.5%.

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