Contact Us

Moving Forward Together

MSS is an industry leader in providing technology‑led financial services for the UK property market, efficiently connecting consumers, lenders and intermediaries.

About MSS

Focusing on mortgage, insurance and surveying services, MSS creates a network to aggregate providers of property services, providing smaller firms with a level of scale that enables access to paid-for services and large lender contracts, not available to them directly.

Technological innovation is core to MSS’s success and it has continuously sought to revolutionise its markets, utilising data‑driven tools to optimise its value proposition to customers.

This provision of market leading service levels has driven significant growth over recent years, gaining share from its competitors. MSS has increased its EBITDA by 51% from FY17 to FY20.

 

Hand Money Icon
£12 billion of mortgage lending per year
House Icon
167,000 valuations completed in 2022
Employee Icon
Over 320 employees
Hardhat Check Icon
A community of over 350 surveyors
Documents icon
Over 1000 mortgage advisers

Timeline

Stonebridge Logo Colour
1988
Stonebridge Mortgage Solutions is formed
Direct Valuations
1989
Direct Valuations is formed and becomes the valuation panel manager to First Direct
mortgageforce
2000
Mortgageforce is launched as a JV between Direct Valuations and Rob Clifford
Shepherd Logo
2002
In-house surveying business is launched
mortgageforce
2005
Mortgageforce acquired by West Bromwich Building Society, having grown to 125 outlets
Shepherd Direct
2007
Direct Valuations partners with J&E Shepherd surveyors to become Shepherd Direct
MQ Logo
2008
Shepherd Direct acquires moneyQuest mortgage brokers
SBVS
2011
SBVS founded as a joint venture with Sesame Bankhall Group to provide surveying services
Shepherd Direct
2013
Surveying market share reaches 10%
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2013
Number of AR firms in Stonebridge network passes 100
Pure Protect
2014
Insurance broker, Pure Protect, is partially acquired by Shepherd Direct
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2014
In excess of £1bn of mortgages brokered by Stonebridge per annum.
Shepherd Logo
2014
In-house surveying volume exceeds 50,000 jobs
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2015
Shepherd Direct acquires 49% stake in Stonebridge
SDL Group Logo
2016
Shepherd Direct rebrands to SDL Group
SDL Surveying Old logo
2016
SDL Surveying secure shared panel management role for YBS
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2016
Number of AR firms in Stonebridge network passes 200
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2016
Stonebridge recruits first DA advisers
SDL Group Logo
2017
SDL Group increases stake in Stonebridge to 80%
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2017
Stonebridge exceeds 500 AR advisers (over 250 firms)
SDL Surveying Old logo
2018
SDL Surveying wins surveying allocation from RBS
Stonebridge Logo Colour
2018
SDL Group increases stake in Stonebridge to 100%
MSS Logo
2019
MSS trading division formed
SDL Surveying
2019
SDL Surveying business rebranded
Stonebridge Revolution combined logos
2019
Stonebridge and Revolution businesses rebranded
SDL Surveying
2019
SDL Surveying becomes HSBC’s exclusive panel manager for surveying
SDL Surveying
2019
SDL Surveying doubles surveying volumes with YBS and becomes exclusive panel manager
SDL Surveying
2019
SDL Surveying has major allocation wins from Virgin Money and RBS
SDL Surveying
2021
SDL Surveying introduces two new products: New Build Risk Exposure and Local Desktop Valuations.

Our Values

We work in partnership with our network firms and back them to grow their businesses.

We share success with our people and back them to progress towards personal goals.

We create a better future for consumers by progressing their mortgage transactions efficiently.

We create a better future for our people by investing in their wellbeing and development.

We always give our customers the best advice and do the right thing by them.

We act with integrity towards our colleagues and do the right thing in difficult situations.

Our Team

Simon Jackson
Chief Executive Officer
A former COO of Aon’s retail division and operations leader at Egg, Simon has over twenty years’ experience working the financial services industry. He joined the SDL Group in 2007 to oversee operations and lead the surveying businesses, before becoming CEO of the newly-formed MSS trading division in 2019.
Rob Clifford
Chief Commercial Officer
Rob was previously MD of Virgin Money, Director at West Brom Building Society and CEO at national broker, Mortgageforce. He currently leads the financial services arm of the group, becoming Chief Executive of the Stonebridge business in 2019. Alongside this, he performs the group role of Chief Commercial Officer for MSS.
Heath Walker
Chief Financial Officer
Following qualification as a Chartered Accountant with a "Big Four" accounting firm, Heath spent fifteen years advising a range of quoted and unquoted businesses on their acquisition, sale and fundraising (debt and equity) strategies. Since 2011, he has worked as a CFO in a range of private equity backed businesses, covering sectors such as healthcare, infrastructure technology and engineering. He joined MSS in 2020 to support the business with its ongoing growth strategy.
Sarah Tuck
Chief People & Marketing Officer
Prior to MSS, Sarah worked for multiple financial services businesses for over 25 years, undertaking a range of senior operational and project management roles. Sarah is accountable for Marketing, HR, People, Engagement and Wellbeing, Group Compliance (including H&S and facilities) and is also MSS's company secretary. She has been with the business since 2011 and has worked in a wide variety of roles, providing her with a unique understanding of all key areas across the group.
Carl Webber
Chief Technology Officer
Carl joined MSS in 2019 and is responsible for our technology functions and change delivery. Carl has experience of working in large corporates and startup businesses and had held several senior roles in financial services and retail businesses. He has previously been a Programme Director at ASOS, Homeserve and also spent a number of years working in the Middle East as COO for a retail financial services group.

Our Group Companies

SDL Surveying is MSS’s nationwide surveying and panel management business, which utilises over 100 in-house surveyors and over 100 independent network firms providing coverage of a further 274 surveyors.

SDL Surveying is one of the fastest-growing surveying businesses in the UK with 178,000 valuations in 2021 and having recently secured new panel management contracts and increased allocations of work.

Stonebridge is MSS’s nationwide mortgage network for Appointed Representative and Directly Authorised brokers, bringing together over 820 independent mortgage and insurance brokers.

Stonebridge is the UK’s fastest growing mortgage network, originating over £10.7bn of completions in 2021, by providing its members with an unrivalled suite of proprietary tools and resources.

Revolution (owned by Stonebridge since 2008) is MSS’s tech solution for advisers in the mortgage services sector. This innovative software system has been developed to enhance all areas of an adviser’s business, from lead generation and sales progression to product selection and business processing.

The system is developed in-house by a dedicated team of 11 internal developers who are engaged in the continuous improvement of the platform.

MSS also provides advice via its own in-house mortgage broker, moneyQuest, which has 17 brokers and advised on £564m of lending FY19.

MSS commonly utilises the moneyQuest business to pilot its innovations in technology and business processing in a controlled environment, before rolling these enhancements out to the wider Stonebridge network.

In addition to generating income from insurance sold through its network, MSS also has its own in-house operations – Stonebridge Protect and Pure Protect – which offer life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection products, directly to the consumer.

MSS’s in-house insurance brokers serve to increase insurance product penetration and customers are typically referred to them by AR brokers who are unwilling or unable to sell protection products.

In the News

Let’s hope second home ban doesn’t backfire

14.07.2022
Read More >

MSS supports employees during cost-of-living crisis

07.07.2022
Read More >
View All >

Contact Us

To find out more about the services our companies offer

Get in Touch