Expo 2011: EU could extend scope of mortgage directive

Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo, Isabelle Audigier, legal director at BIPAR, said: "We at BIPAR believe the scope should remain limited. All other products are very often niche products and shouldn't be regulated in the same way that traditional mortgages will be regulated by EU wide legislation."

She went on to reassure the audience: "We tell them we want a directive that is proportionate, where the cost is justified, where there is a level playing field between lenders and intermediaries and flexibility for member states."

An un-named UK MEP is also battling to save the Key Facts Illustration (KFI) model as part of the European Mortgage directive, revealed BIPAR.

The representatives of BIPAR explained that the Council of the European Parliament called to make the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) the permanent paperwork model in the EC Mortgage Directive.

However, Rebekka De Nie, legal advisor at BIPAR, told delegates: "In the European Parliament there is a UK MEP who has called for those countries that already have something similar in place, like a KFI, to be able to keep it. But we have yet to see if that will be adopted."

BIPAR said, alongside the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), it will continue to ensure that EU legislators understand their views.