First Mortgage Lender joins Open Property Data Association (OPDA)

29 August 2023

United Trust Bank (UTB) announced as the first lender to sign up to OPDA with Buster Tolfree joining the Member Executive Committee

OPDA, the UK’s first trade association creating and driving adoption of open property data, has today announced the appointment of UTB to their Executive Committee. Already representing some of the biggest names in the property industry, OPDA is driving the innovation and collaboration the industry needs to improve the home buying and mortgage process as well as setting the foundations for the future of an open property data trust framework.

UTB joining the Executive Committee is a key milestone in bringing mortgage lenders and intermediaries into the delivery of a digital, data-driven, home buying process and improving the experience for consumers and industry participants. As an executive member, UTB will bring a lending technology and mortgage data perspective and shape the future development of the data standards for specialist lending.

Maria Harris, Chair of OPDA:

“Announcing our first lender is an exciting and important milestone for the association. As we move towards upfront information becoming mandatory on property listings, ensuring that data is collected digitally and can be shared in a trust way with intermediaries and mortgage lenders will be critical for improving the whole process.

UTB’s approach to innovative thinking and the use of technology to create better experiences for their intermediaries and customers is well recognised across the industry so I’m delighted they’ve joined us at this pivotal time.”

Buster Tolfree, Director of Mortgages, UTB:

“UTB have a reputation as one of the market’s leading specialist banks, and as such we welcome enhancements that simplify the application process for our brokers and customers and help mitigate credit and commercial risk. Joining the OPDA, and being involved in opening up some of the traditional data-borders that have existed in the past, is therefore an easy decision to make.”
Buster has 25 years’ management experience across various senior banking and lending roles, and is currently responsible for the end to end mortgage journey at UTB across its Residential, BTL and Second Charge loan products.
To learn more about OPDA and how you can get involved in delivering the digital future of the property and mortgage industry please visit the website www.openpropdata.org.uk