Advisers expect post-MMR business boom.
20/08/2013 By Tony Wornell
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ruled that from April 2014 virtually all interactive mortgage sales will have to be advised.
Put simply, if a consumer seeking a mortgage speaks to a staff member within an intermediary business or a lender, whether by phone of face-to-face, then that staff member must give advice about mortgages, not information-only.
For the vast majority of intermediaries this means no change from current operating procedure. Lenders, however, have often worked on an information-only basis, and for them the FCA ruling will require them to adapt to their new obligations.
How do mortgage intermediaries feel about this? Will the removal of this channel difference be damaging to their business or beneficial? A study from BVA BDRC has questioned a random sample of 100 mortgage intermediaries nationwide on how they think the FCA’s ruling will affect their share of the mortgage business.
The results show that most intermediaries are optimistic about this change. By a ratio of almost 20:1, many more thought this change would increase their share of business than reduce it. Two-in-five, however, felt the ruling would make no difference.
The study highlighted that intermediaries are confident that the changes put in place from April 2014 will benefit their mortgage businesses. And if lenders take too long to adapt to the changes, intermediaries may indeed see the increase in market share they are expecting.
