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by Stephen Parezo

Mark Spencer

September 18, 2006—Soon after Mark Spencer assumed his post as Fiducial’s director of Lending Services last week, the 22-year mortgage industry veteran began outlining his immediate vision for the company leveraging its existing resources to build a profitable business unit on a national scale.

“There’s such a unique opportunity at Fiducial because there’s a higher level of expertise with regard to tax, cash flow and investment matters that we’re able to provide in contrast with any other mortgage banker or broker in the country,” said Spencer who comes to Fiducial after running his own Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and HUD-approved mortgage company for three years in Annapolis, MD.

The lending services division will be based in Fiducial’s Technical and Administrative Support Center (TASC) in Columbia, MD.

Spencer, a native of East Orange, NJ, indicated that most of the higher performing mortgage industry companies are just now trying to raise their level of competence so that they can function on the professional level that is Fiducial’s ‘home space.’ “But that will be a long time coming,” said Spencer, “and a truly professional accreditation with an appropriate training curriculum doesn’t yet exist for them.”

“Most mortgage practitioners can’t look at the level of detail that Fiducial offices and franchisees will be able to provide to them,” he said. “That’s going to be one of our greatest competitive strengths. It certainly was one of the most compelling reasons for me looking at Fiducial as a company to join.”

Fiducial’s lending services arm proposes to increase its market share in targeted segments through value-added services and unique selling propositions. They also plan to advance its competitive advantage through increased cross-sell opportunities among Fiducial’s business units.

Spencer wants to expand the mortgage lending unit to serve other segments outside of the company’s existing customer base. This includes serving medical school students, residents, registered nurses, law and other professional school graduates who have strong earnings potential and unique needs regarding student loans and other types of debt.

“These segments also create future business opportunities for Fiducial as small business clients,” he said.

The first of its kind

First up for Spencer, though, is recruiting a high performance team with the experience, core competencies and sense of urgency required to achieve its business objectives. He plans to start from within.

The lending services unit will build both horizontal and vertical relationships with key personnel in existing Fiducial business units in support of mutual objectives and they will utilize the most technologically efficient methods to provide superior levels of services and sound financial advice to clients.

“Fiducial means trust,” he said, “and because of that, we’re going to be able to make the correct recommendations and ‘do the right thing’ for our clients. We’re going to be able to do that by providing the most appropriate and advanced tools and training currently available.”

As important as it is to focus on the growth of the lending services unit, Spencer says that growth can never be achieved at the expense of the trust its customers have in the company or in its people.

“Fiducial Lending Services will be the place that our customers will want to send their family and friends because we’ve earned their trust and because they understand that we know how important that is to a functional and strong relationship,” he said.

For Spencer, true financial advisors are concerned with what matters most to their clients: dealing with the realities of risk and maintaining a strong sense of financial security. He knows that what’s appropriate for one client does not necessarily apply to another.

“Just as a younger couple is more inclined to have a higher risk tolerance for investments, the couple in retirement looks for greater stability,” he said. “By tightly integrating mortgage risk/reward characteristics into a cohesive financial plan, Fiducial has the distinct opportunity to be the first operation of its kind in this country to be able to offer so high a level of professionalism in practice.”

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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