Ark Financial Leads launches protection and mortgage lead service

A new lead generation provider has launched on the protection and mortgage markets with plans to enter the pensions and investments sectors later this year.

Ark Financial Leads is a joint operation between marketing data specialists The Ark and client audit and acquisition services provider Engage Client Solutions.

The firm said it aimed to differentiate itself by providing advisers with leads that have been through a telephone qualification process, ensuring the consumer is ready to engage with an adviser.

It added that it would supply detailed insight into each lead using techniques such as phone number and address verification, interpreting socio-demographic information and credit profiling.

Jonathan Barrett and Andrew Rosser, former head of sales and head of operations at Leadbay, will head up the proposition, both of whom left the lead provider in May 2010.

Barrett, director of The Ark Financial Leads, revealed that in order to manage volumes, the firm expects to generate a maximum of 300-400 leads per day.

"It's in no-one's interest that we kick off by operating to a large-scale model, so we'll be a niche player that does things differently for the 40 to 50 advisers whom we will deal with. We are confident that's what will deliver the best service to our adviser clients," he added.

The move comes shortly after the collapse of Leadbay shocked the market late last year. It has subsequently been purchased by Mitchell Farrer Group.