September was party conference season, and the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), the trade body for mortgage intermediaries,walked the corridors of power… or at least the corridors of hotels and conference centres.
AMI has regular meetings with MPs across all parties but the party conferences allow for more informal discussions than are usually the case – and for networking and relationship building. It was noticeable that while the major financial institutions were represented in force, AMI was the only organisation representing intermediaries, forcefully setting the role and value of advice. As good trade bodies know, it is important to be on good working terms with politicians, but essential to have better ones with their civil servants – Ministers might move but civil servants remain.
Ministers met: many (vg)
The Labour Party conference was held in Manchester this year. After a number of meetings with Ministers, and hearing the Chancellor speak, I had a good sense of the priorities and worries of the Government.
When I met with Kitty Ussher MP, she was Treasury Minister, and her beat covered our part of the market. In our regular meetings, I was able to keep her up to date with the pace of change sweeping the markets, and provided a useful environmental scan. Given the nature of AMI firms, we are a weathervane for how the economy is treating smaller businesses. We discussed the economy, banking reform, regulatory reform and the state of the mortgage market. We also discussed the competitive issues currently raging in the mortgage market, effects on consumers and firms and the ‘raw necessity’ of the moves. I am sure that post-credit crunch the competitive aspects will be revisited.
Things change quickly, and Ussher is now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, in the Department of Work and Pensions, having been replaced by Ian Pearson MP (jointly with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). A new post joins the Treasury ranks, that of Paul Myners (formerly of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority). Meetings with these new Ministers are already being arranged to pick up where we left off.
It was then on to meet with Rt. Hon John Hutton MP, at that time, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Given the focus of his portfolio, we discussed a wide range of subjects – from the need for the UK to take an even more leading role in Brussels to stem the flow of unhelpful directives, to how we could ensure that an open market rather than protectionism was seen as the answer to the current travails, and the need for better regulation, not necessarily new powers. As his successor is Peter Mandleson, the focus on European issues was well timed and is sure to continue.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP, has kept her role, and we discussed the need to look again at the focus of regulation, as it had obviously missed the biggest risks. We also talked about the housing market and the need for wider ranging reform on Stamp Duty Land Tax. It was also a priority for me to advocate Government intervention in the capital markets. We have made presentations to the Treasury and Crosby team on our ideas and await the output of Sir James’ report with great expectations.
Through these meetings, I was able to weave in the value of mortgage advice. The statistics and research we now have that show people seek out and value mortgage advice even more during turbulent periods, has helped convince those who have not seen the link in the past.
Issues discussed: all of them (excellent)
It was then off to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. A long session of meetings began with a good discussion with Mark Francois MP, Shadow Minister responsible for Europe. Francois and I discussed the need for better regulation coming out of Brussels and for concerted action across all the European member states to fix the credit crunch. The action of some member states has not shown the joined-up approach that is essential if Europe is to have a united response to the credit crunch.
Next I met with Brian Binley MP. It is his role to lead the group responsible for small business policy. We talked about the CGT changes brought in by the current Government and Binley made it clear that he saw these as a mistake – especially given that smaller businesses had been penalised by a rising tax burden. He was also keen to hear about the experience of intermediary firms who are being badly treated by banks cutting their overdraft facilities, etc.
On to talking to Justine Greening MP, Shadow Minister for the Treasury. We had a long discussion on the credit crunch and I suggested what the Conservative party should be proposing to help members and their customers.
I had lunch with David Cameron over the summer, and Justine was also present. During this meeting, I had the opportunity to outline AMI’s remedies for the credit crunch and we picked up on these themes again today. Our work with James Crosby was much discussed – along with the reasons for his report being delayed.
Later, I had the opportunity to brief Mark Prisk MP, Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise. This meeting focused on the application of the Consumer Credit Directive as it is transposed into UK law, the need for FSA to regulate second charge mortgages, and a discussion about the problems in the sale-and-rent-back market. I am no fan of new regulation but this market could go horribly wrong and needs swift intervention. Prisk is a thoughtful and engaging MP and one to watch.
The Conservative Party showed that it was keen to hear from AMI about the effects of the credit crunch on members and the competitive impact on the market.
Without the AMI representation at these conferences, the only voice heard would be that of the largest institutions.
When politicians are seeking answers to the biggest problems, it is essential that they hear from distribution, from those that put their customers first, from the professional intermediary community. It is, in fact, essential that AMI is in the room putting your interests first, or the future will be even less rosy than it seems today. n
Chris Cummings, director general of AMI
