This has not been due to a lack of demand for this service but more to do with the difficulty of making such sales operations pay their way, allied perhaps to a wish to remove themselves from exposure to advice risk.
In LGN we’ve been successful in providing a home for a large number of excellent advisers from the Co-Op and from Axa. We hope many more will follow as advisers in our growing number of larger scale LGN firms.
So far however, these advisers have been from the investment side of the business, and although some mortgage and protection business is transacted, it is not these advisers’ main focus.
But as more bank and building society mortgage advisers become fully qualified and carry out fully advised sales – we may see a further exodus of these type of sellers too, as lenders decide they cannot make this cost base work. We have been picking up noises about some large lenders reducing branch seller numbers, and we think it could become a trend.
But has the public’s appetite for advice about mortgages reduced? I don’t think so. Our own Mortgage Mood research tells us that prospective borrowers seek information from various sources when looking for a mortgage, but increasingly seek out the advice of a well qualified, well backed independent mortgage adviser for reassurance and confirmation before making the final decision.
To the potential refugees from the banking sector, I say welcome. There is a good living to be made advising customers on their mortgage and protection needs – and good career prospects too.
As one door closes, another one opens and the front door of LGN remains wide open to both advisers and advising firms who genuinely want to ‘work for the customer and not just themselves’.
Duncan Crocker is MD of Legal & General Network
