Nicholls appointed sales director at Sammon Mortgages ahead of recruitment drive

London and Essex-based directly authorised broker Sammon Mortgages, has appointed Karen Nicholls as its sales director for the self-employed advice arm of the business.

Nicholls has almost 20 years’ experience working within financial services and joins Sammon Mortgages from Cynergy Bank where she was head of intermediary sales for four years.

She previously held senior roles at Clydesdale Bank, National Australia Group and Barclays.

Sammon Mortgages, with offices in Fenchurch Street, plans to recruit up to 50 self-employed mortgage advisers over the next six months.

The firm said new advisers will receive a competitive commission split and strong technology support, including access to its custom-built digital mortgage platform Ladder.

Vince Sammon founder and CEO of Sammon Mortgages and Ladder, said: “Karen’s appointment is fundamental in our ambitious growth plans and her extensive experience across the lending and intermediary marketplace will prove vital in taking the business to the next level. We offer a unique proposition which provides valuable timesaving tech solutions for our advisers and their customers, as well as an unrivalled commission split and support package.

“Sammon Mortgages is powered by the Ladder platform which is central in this entire journey as it delivers additional control and power to our advisers by arming them with a system which greatly reduces admin burdens and streamlines a variety of front and back-end processes. All of which allows them to concentrate on spending more time with new and existing clients and generating additional revenue.”

Nicholls added: “The decision for mortgage advisers to become self-employed has never been more attractive but it’s vital that they arm themselves with the right tools to meet ever-changing client needs and make their sales, admin and compliance procedures more efficient and effective.

“The Ladder platform’s innovative customer portal and back-end processes is the envy of other firms and will prove a key draw in attracting new advisers to the business both on a sole trader or appointed representative basis. I am very excited about the opportunities being created throughout the intermediary market and look forward to growing our self-employed arm in the coming weeks and months.”

Sammon Mortgage Management launched in 2010 after Vince Sammon left John Charcol and started out to grow the business with five brokers.