Glasgow-based Money-quest, one of the UK's biggest online mortgage brokers, is to close its Edinburgh office and reduce its headcount.

Glasgow-based Money-quest, one of the UK's biggest online mortgage brokers, is to close its Edinburgh office and reduce its headcount.

Commenting on talk in the company that 50 of the 124 jobs may be shed, Moneyquest said there had been no figure put on the redundancy exercise, which was half way through consultation. But it said the Edinburgh office would close and all its staff would transfer to Glasgow.

Two of the business's co-founders stepped down in March when a management team led by former Egg chief executive Paul Gratton bought a majority stake, installing Gratton as executive chairman along-side chief executive and co-founder Paul Reynolds.

Gratton said there was an opportunity for expansion despite the depressed mortgage market, because good brokers were more in demand than ever, and he was starting a recruitment drive.

Yesterday, however, the firm's spokesperson Chris Lynch told The Herald: "We are having to downsize. We are not immune to the market conditions, it is the same for everybody else, we are trying to reduce numbers as much as we can without losing jobs.

She added: "We have taken the decision to streamline the business back, to safeguard as many jobs as possible."

Lynch said the new management team had been having a positive effect on the business since it came in four months ago.

"At the time the business was reporting losses, they got it to break-even in a very short time and turned a small profit in April. But the market collapsed in May."

She said a secure customer base, including a new tie-up with Legal & General, was a sound platform to build the business going forward.

Several smaller players in the mortgage market have ceased trading in recent months, including Glasgow-based specialist Opus Mortgages, which went into liquidation in April with the loss of all 15 jobs.