One to One – Sue Hayes, chief executive, Nottingham Building Society

What does your role look like on a day-to-day basis?

I spend two to three days a week in our Nottingham head office to be with the team. No two days are the same, which is what makes the role both challenging and enjoyable.

My focus since I started has been on how we take our strong mutual heritage to create a modern, relevant building society that meets the needs of today’s borrowers and savers — and those of tomorrow.

We have a strong executive team from diverse backgrounds, which is a core requirement for the transformation journey we are on. In addition, our broker partnerships are central to our future strategy.

Brokers, in my view, hold the key not only to the customer experience but also to which lenders will deliver

I spend a lot of time with our mortgage proposition and broker teams — exploring how we make it simpler for brokers to place business with us — and with our credit risk, data and tech teams — looking at how we can lend to a broader range of borrowers.

In a volatile market, what is the biggest challenge you face in your specific role?

Markets and competition are always a challenge and often volatile. My role is to lead our teams through this volatile period, ensuring we make the right decisions for borrowers, brokers and savers.

I would like the Nottingham to be famous for its service and approach to more challenging lending criteria

It’s important to balance the needs of our different customer groups, ensuring we offer best value to borrowers and pass back the best rates we can to savers. My key focus is to strengthen the business, transform it for the future so we are truly differentiated for our customers and members, while achieving increasing financial results.

What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

This role. We have built a fantastic team, we have a relevant strategy, and we are making great progress in delivering the strategy and transforming our mortgage proposition.

I also love the fact we have worked with Generation Home to help a fantastic proposition come to life, which really works with our strategy, while we build and transform our own capability.

The best advice I have received is: focus on getting on the property ladder as early as possible

In the meantime, we have already increased our mortgage lending in the first six months of this year, against the backdrop of a falling lending market overall.

I am confident we will make a significant difference to our members, brokers and future customers in the next 12–24 months as we further implement the strategy.

What is one thing you’d like the Nottingham to achieve in the next 12 months?

To be known as a great lender and as ‘one to watch’ in terms of the broker and customer proposition and delivery.

My key focus is to strengthen the business, transform it for the future so we are truly differentiated for our customers and members, while achieving increasing financial results

I would like the Nottingham to be famous for its service and approach to more challenging lending criteria, which matches the changing needs of the labour market, as well as being fantastic for savings members.

Is there anything you would change about the mortgage market if you could?

I’d like to see more people of all backgrounds be able to buy their own home. Mortgage providers have a role to play in delivering this, together with brokers.

Earlier in my career I worked as a financial adviser. People turn to advisers and brokers as the decisions they help them with are some of the biggest they will ever make. Despite advances in AI, people value people, and therefore brokers, because they are not just seeking someone to find them ‘the best mortgage rate’. They are looking for empathy, encouragement and emotional support.

We have a strong executive team from diverse backgrounds, which is a core requirement for the transformation journey we are on

Brokers, in my view, hold the key not only to the customer experience but also to which lenders will deliver. So they also hold all lenders to account, which can only be good for all our customers.

If you didn’t work in finance, what other career would interest you?

A career that involved technology and data to create great customer experiences. I love the idea of using the combination of tech and data with people, and the art of the possible. I also love ‘nudge theory’. Putting all those together would be my idea of job heaven.

What’s the best advice you have received?

Focus on getting on the property ladder as early as possible. Given today’s challenges, this is nowhere near as easy as it used to be, which heightens the need for househunters to seek guidance and understand the range of lending choices.

This article featured in the September 2023 edition of MS.

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