In a move initiated by Brightstar CEO Rob Jupp, the group reviewed the syllabus of CeMAP two and three and drafted sections which they thought would better represent the secured loan lending market, currently absent from the qualification.
The European Mortgage Credit Directive, which must be implemented by 21 March 2016, does not differentiate between first and second charge loans. To comply with the directive the Financial Conduct Authority will regulate second charge loans in much the same way as first charge residential mortgages. Lenders and brokers giving advice in the seconds market will need to be CeMAP qualified but have until September 2018 to pass their exams
The working group included chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries and Association of Finance Brokers Robert Sinclair, Tim Wheeldon managing director of secured loan brokerage Fluent Money and the Finance and Leasing Association.
Wheeldon said Jupp, who is also the chair of the Association of Bridging Professionals, approached him to review the existing qualification and think of it from the perspective of the second charge industry.
“I gathered together the FLA, the AFB, lenders and brokers and we ran through the syllabus and fleshed out where we thought it could be updated to reflect secured loans and then sent a draft to the FCA. The FLA sent the paper on behalf of our working group,” said Wheeldon.
Jupp said that while nothing had been agreed by the regulator they had been very supportive of the work being done.
Sinclair said: “AMI has been working with the FLA and the bridging professionals to clarify to the FCA the urgent need for a review to the mortgage examination syllabus and content. We hope that they will be able to prioritise this and find resource shortly.
