A Midland mutual is to create 60 jobs on the back of an anticipated mortgage boom when 15,000 British soldiers return to the UK from Germany in the next five years.
Lichfield-based Police Mutual, which recently acquired Forces Financial, is planning on expanding its mortgage operation to cater for a surge in demand.
Police Mutual manages around £900 million of assets and investments for its members and employs 200 people at its Lichfield headquarters and 100 at its Liverpool base.
Forces Financial was its fourth acquisition in just under two years following a record year for new business in 2013. The firm is a national and international provider of financial products to the armed services and UK police, with 180,000 customers.
Commercial director James Henderson said: “It is very significant for us. It effectively doubles the size of our customer base and provides us with a number of business areas we do and they do, such as mortgages.
“By putting them together we will essentially be looking to double the size of our mortgage operation, to double the number of advisers we have and the people we provide mortgages to.”
Mr Henderson added: “All of those troops in Germany have to be relocated to the UK, and there are a number of key locations they are being brought back to.
“Some of them will be in Army accommodation but a lot of them need to buy and there is a military Help to Buy scheme.
“We are planning to focus on how we support those troops and their families.”
One area earmarked for military personnel is in Stafford, with the Ministry of Defence awarding a £51 million contract for new homes in Stafford at Beacon Barracks.
Mr Henderson added: “Our preference is to recruit in the Midlands but we may not be able to find enough people with the skills we need. There are just not enough people in the market at any one time and you quickly exhaust the local population.”
The anticipated increase in mortgage business will represent the lion’s share of the company’s growth, though Mr Henderson said other acquisitions would be considered if they bring potential benefits to members.
He said: “We have been working hard on building up our capital and our financial position, so are very strong. We can use that to acquire other businesses if the conditions are right.
“It has to be in members’ interests and has to be a good use of members’ money so we are looking at businesses where we can provide benefits to members.”
Police Mutual has around 200,000 members, who last year put away £67.6 million in regular savings plans.
It was founded in 1866 by a handful of police officers who were worried there was no provision for orphans and widows.
Police Mutual Assurance Society – as it was called then – assisted with savings and insurance, enabling officers to save small amounts to protect their loved ones and dependents.
But it was hit hard after paying out insurance claims for death and injury in the First World War and the Spanish flu epidemic. It was reconstituted in 1922 and has since focused on providing savings, investments, insurance, healthcare and mortgages for the police.
The Forces Financial acquisition saw a further 140 staff become part of the wider Police Mutual Group. They are based in offices in Hampshire, Suffolk and Humberside – and 16 military branches across Germany and Cyprus.
