A high-flying Countrywide mortgage broker is setting up his own firm with three colleagues, saying that being furloughed by the company last year and changes made by Connells following the purchase of his former employer helped him make the decision.

Adam Tovey has told a trade website that he’s now set up The Mortgages Group, which trades as Mortgages Wales, with former Countrywide colleagues Sean Mayberry, Paula Clement and Megan Addy.

“We’re the masters of our own destiny now,” he told Mortgage Solutions.

The Mortgages Group has already been incorporated with a registered office in Neath with Tovey and Mayberry named as its two directors.

Tovey was one of the top employees at Countrywide’s Welsh operation including a spell at 25-branch agency John Francis and says being furloughed along with all his other broker colleagues last year gave he and the others time to sit down and think about setting up on their own.

Their decision to set up Mortgage Wales is also understandable – Countrywide recently revealed that it had ‘streamlined’ its lender panel to align it with the Connells Group.

Wider range

The 40-year-old says he holds no grudges against his former employer who he thanks for giving him the experience and contacts to set up the new business, which will include a wide range of products including mortgages, protection, the open market for general insurance, commercial and second charge.

Tovey also has the blessing of Countrywide for his new venture, which is preparing a reference for the business.

Like his colleagues at the new venture, Tovey has a background in corporate banking including a nine-year stretch at HSBC in Cardiff.