Specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages has signed a three-year contract with leading provider of automation and valuation solutions, Hometrack, to identify climate change risks within its mortgage portfolio.
Under the partnership, Hometrack will regularly review Bluestone’s back book to assess the potential impact of climate change.
Using leading data on flood, ground and energy risk, Hometrack will also forecast how risk is set to develop across the specialist lender’s portfolio over time.
The information will allow Bluestone to understand the effect of climate change on property valuations to help shape risk appetite, as well as establish core capital calculations.
The partnership comes as financial providers must begin reporting climate change risks to the regulator, after the Bank of England asked lenders to assess their resilience.
Steve Seal, CEO, Bluestone Mortgages, said: “Within the context of a changing world, thanks to the climate change risk analysis and information provided by Hometrack, we will be able to better understand risk and opportunity in the current market.”
George Robbins, VP commercial at Hometrack, added: “One of the biggest challenges facing lenders is changing regulation around climate change; and this is as pertinent to specialist lenders as it is to the main market.
“Our solutions and insight will help support Bluestone to gain control of risk exposure based on our market leading data and analysis. We accurately identify where, when, how often and how severe climate change related risks are going to develop along with how to navigate these unfolding events. This will put Bluestone in the driving seat to devise the appropriate strategies to continue lending whilst understanding and mitigating risks.”