During HML’s mortgage origination seminar last week, Hennah (pictured), chairing the debate, said: “If lenders have spent money on these channels they will want to use them. But the question is will consumers want to use these channels?”
Hennah suggested the fact fewer mortgage products are likely to be available after the MMR is introduced on 26 April 2014 will mean borrowers may be happier to go direct. He also asked where lenders are likely to recruit their advisers from and whether the adviser shortage could boost salaries.
Michael Coogan, ex-director general, Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and strategic adviser at Deloitte said the degree to which lenders can delegate regulatory responsibility will become a key issue for lenders post-MMR.
“How much of the regulatory responsibility they delegate to advisers and how much they duplicate at point of sale is a key question for lenders right now,” said Coogan.
He also questioned how this will all look to consumers.
“Will we stay at the place where the bulk of the work is done by mortgage advisers, or will lenders feed more through telephony or branch?” he asked.
Qualified adviser recruitment could be a challenge and is likely to be trickier for us in the provinces, said Claire Davey, Skipton Building Society’s head of direct.
Skipton centralised its advice service 12 months ago, allowing the building society to reduce adviser numbers by 10%. However, she added with all UK lenders trying to recruit qualified advisers at the same time everyone was in the same boat, which could level the recruitment playing field.
