Case Study

At the end of 2008, Valunation was appointed panel manager for the Loughborough Building Society. The Loughborough's strategic break with its past heralded the beginning of a very successful partnership. Alison Beech, Business Relationship Director and Head of Valunation, Spicerhaart, explains why Valunation provides the right formula for Loughborough's for the last two and a half years.

“The Loughborough's decision to out-source its panel management is an increasingly common one. Many smaller societies feel marginalized by larger panel managers as they simply cannot and do not wish to provide the volume that the banks provide. Equally in-house solutions can be expensive and difficult to implement in volatile markets.”

"I think our size and flexibility are crucial," continues Alison, "It's easy to underestimate the importance of good servicing. Things like direct points of contact to senior staff for daily queries, including instruction and report process issues, and technical back up are so important, as are regular review meetings, and monthly comprehensive management information packs covering all the KPIs - and, of course, all this has to be bound up in a competitive service level agreement!" Valunation's people's experience and expertise adds real value to the relationship. The eighty strong surveyors and twenty four head office management team have played a fundamental role in helping shape an improved risk policy from their insights into industry developments and trends including methods of construction and topically fraud. Together with the quality certified systems (ISO 9001:2008), risk management procedures, advanced technology and internal audit function Valunation is delivering management information that really adds to the clients' decision making.

For Alison, there is a broader reason for Valunation's popularity among medium sized Building Societies. "There is a delicate balance for us that leverages our position as a national provider and our strong local presence. We make it our business to partner clients knowing one size does not fit all but also have the advantage of having Spicerhaart's integrated property group that can offer further compliance, IT back up, disaster recovery and related facilities." Caroline Joyce, Operations Director, says, "The Loughborough hasn't looked back since appointing Valunation. Their service is a real addition to our business and they have enabled us to significantly improve our instruction and report processes operationally and at a policy level."