From 21 March 2016, the deadline for the implementation of the directive, second charge mortgages become regulated which means brokers and lenders in the second charge sector needed to upgrade their permissions to conduct business.
Previously firms in the seconds market required a consumer credit licence granted by the Office of Fair Trading. When the FCA took over governance of the sector in April 2014 firms needed to apply for interim permissions under the FCA to continue to conduct business until they could apply for and be granted full authorisation from the regulator.
Jackie Steel, group compliance officer at Enterprise Finance, said: “We are very pleased our application has been successful and that it was approved as smoothly and quickly as it has been. This means we can continue our planning and preparations for the next year and beyond with the confidence that all our systems and processes are exactly in line with what the regulator is expecting.”
Danny Waters, chief executive at Enterprise Finance, said: “The specialist lending market has evolved over the last few years and we are sure that the MCD regime represents a positive step along the path to future growth and improvements.
“Full regulation of the mortgage market has helped improve standards in the home loan industry in the past decade or so and we are confident that the second charge mortgage sector will reap similar rewards in the coming years.”
He added: “These are exciting times for the industry and we are glad to be ahead of the curve in receiving our necessary permissions so far in advance of the implementation date.”
