We’re pleased to report strong growth over the past year, with significant increases in turnover and headcount.
Based in Cardiff, Cornerstone Finance Group has also embarked on a new strategic partnership, appointing Castlebridge Risk Solutions as our exclusive commercial insurance partner.
Castlebridge is an Appointed Representative of Momentum Broker Solutions, a network writing more than £120 million in premium income annually. This relationship gives Castlebridge access to a wide range of products and services from an extensive range of insurers.
In 2024, our turnover reached £7.161 million, up from £4.59 million in 2023.
We’ve continued to invest in our team, growing from nine staff members in 2021 to 41 by the end of last year.
Earlier this year, we welcomed Graeme Lewis as our new Head of Network Engagement, supporting the development of our growing network of mortgage and protection advisors.
We also expanded into the North of England with the launch of Needham Financial – Powered by Cornerstone Finance Group. This saw Yorkshire-based brothers Jonathan and Andrew Needham bring a combined five decades of financial services experience to create a new mortgage and advisory community.
The Cornerstone Network started 2025 with around 185 mortgage and protection advisors and set a goal to increase this to 250 this year. Having already achieved this number just five months into the year, we’ve now raised our target to 340 by year end.
Our specialist lending arm, Cornerstone Capital Finance – providing short-term bridging loans of up to 12 months – has lent £20 million since launching in 2021, with more than £6 million currently out in loans.
Cornerstone Commercial Finance has also grown from a team of three in 2020 to more than 25 today.
Haydn Thomas, our CEO, said:
“This year has seen us continue to build on the solid foundations we’ve created as a proud Welsh financial services firm with a wide geographic reach and outlook.
“We’ve continued to expand our team, bringing in new colleagues with tremendous experience and expertise, as well as maintaining our ethos of growing our own talent by supporting our staff with ongoing development.
“The Cornerstone Network continues to go from strength to strength. This year is about growing the number of advisors overall by attracting new entrants and supporting the growth of existing firms in the network. Through training and support we are constantly seeing an improving trend in product penetration through meeting customer needs – and this naturally results in more opportunities for our members to generate income.
“We are seeking established, multi-advisory firms who are looking for a network which specialises in cutting-edge technology, real-time compliance and which brings a relationship-led approach to client retention.
“Our aim is to make a name for ourselves as the most trusted network in the mortgage and protection advisory market.
“The Cornerstone Finance Group as a whole thrives on strong partnership working, including with our platform provider Acre which helps our advisors spend more time with their clients, and we believe our new partnership with Castlebridge will soon be bringing huge benefits for our staff, our network and our clients.
“We are confident of continued growth throughout 2025 as we invest in our team, our network and our partnerships.”