A practical, opinionated guide to choosing and running a CRM for a UK brokerage. Written from the inside of hundreds of firm migrations.
A CRM for a UK mortgage brokerage is not a generic sales pipeline. It is a bonded client record, a regulated case tracker, and a compliance evidence log — in one system. The record-keeping requirements under MCOB 4, ICOBS 5, and SYSC 9 mean the CRM is a regulatory artefact, not a marketing tool.
If your CRM can be replaced by a spreadsheet, it is not doing the job. If it cannot reconstruct a suitability conversation in five years, it is not doing the job.
Evaluate in this order: (1) client record model — can it hold a household, not just a contact; (2) case lifecycle — does it model the 11 stages from enquiry to completion; (3) document handling — can you upload, classify, and audit; (4) compliance — Consumer Duty, SMCR, and AML workflows; (5) integrations — sourcing, email, accounting.
Features to ignore during evaluation: dashboards, AI chatbots, and anything labelled "intelligence" without a concrete use case attached.
Nobody should build a broker CRM from scratch in 2026. The question is whether to buy off-the-shelf and configure, or buy a platform that is opinionated about broker workflows. Opinionated platforms (Adviser IQ, Smartr365, 360 Lifecycle) win on speed-to-value; generic platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot) win on flexibility but at 4-10× the implementation cost.
List price is a fraction of the total cost. Add: implementation (typically £3-20k), data migration (£1-5k), training (5-10 days of firm time), and the productivity dip during switchover (2-4 weeks). A £50/licence CRM costs a 5-adviser firm around £30k in year one.
The ROI comes from admin hours freed. An adviser who reclaims 4 hours a week at £100 effective rate recovers £20k/year.
Week 1: clean existing data, agree client-record taxonomy, assign a firm lead. Weeks 2-3: data migration + admin training. Weeks 4-6: adviser rollout, one case type at a time. Week 8: parallel running stops, old system read-only. Week 12: first case fully lifecycled in the new system, post-mortem, adjustments.
Consumer Duty (PRIN 12) puts four outcomes on the firm: products & services, price & value, understanding, and support. Your CRM needs to generate evidence against all four. SMCR requires accountable individuals; your CRM needs to log which adviser did what. MLR 2017 requires AML workflow; your CRM needs to run screening and evidence it.
The UK mortgage CRM purpose-built for Consumer Duty.