Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) chief executive Robert Sinclair (pictured) said he did not expect the final rules until the regulator’s year end, on a mortgage panel at FSE at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry yesterday.
Martin Reynolds, CEO of Simplybiz added: “I think the regulator is still conferring on all the, shall we say, vociferous responses it received in relation to the interim report, so it’s not anticipated until the Spring.”
AMI, the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) all attacked the regulator’s focus on price and lack of acknowledgement that good advice draws together a range of factors, including potential customer lifestyle changes and attitude to risk, for example.
The industry fightback
AMI went as far as to say the regulator’s proposed remedies were “disproportionate to the harm identified” and suggested that the proposals came from the “need to justify the resources that have been dedicated to the study over the last three years”.
In the study published in May, the FCA also suggested advice might be slowing the mortgage process and AMI fought back saying it was inappropriate to suggest changes to the advice process with ‘little consideration of the reasons behind the measures that were taken following the last financial crisis and the rationale for their implementation.’
The MMS report proposed two data-driven mortgage industry search tools, including an adviser comparison and a consumer eligibility tool.
Sinclair said: “It is a little perverse that the FCA wants to build a new tool for the regulation of firms, and then a form of register to put advisers on,” he said. “Which they’ve paid £200,000 to someone not to do it themselves and they’re also looking to build a separate mortgage adviser tool.”
He added: “The good news for advisers is that all the trade bodies are in the room when this is being discussed because sometimes when regulators get involved in this type of thing, it can turn out to be a crock of s**t.
“And there is no lack of consensus from your representative bodies on these issues. We are all very aligned on what we’re saying to the regulator on this.”
Sinclair was however keen to stress that there could be some major benefits for advisers. He said: “There are opportunities with both of these tools, in terms of how advisers engage with lenders, and how consumers find the right advisers with the right skills and the right services.”
