Jul 19 – Intermediaries and the SM&CR – what is your culture?
With less than six months before the FCA’s Senior Manager & Certification Regime (SM&CR) is extended across financial services businesses you might think that this is new regulation, based on filling in lots of forms. Technically in law it is new regulation and there are forms to complete, but for most mortgage advice firms it […]
Jul 19 – AMI endorses Government’s How to Buy and How to Sell guides
On 13th May we issued a newsflash voicing concerns that the Government’s new How to Buy and How to Sell guides
Jul 19 – Call for members to respond to FCA Consultation closing on Sunday 7 July 2019
The FCA is consulting via CP19/17: Consultation on mortgage advice and selling standards.
Jun 19 – The big trapped borrower debate
The issue of the trapped borrower or mortgage prisoner has been on the AMI agenda since the MMR was finalised in 2012. We could be criticised for not getting enough traction on the issue until late 2018, but we were assured that the Mortgages Market Study was looking at this from our early discussions with […]
Jun 19 – Calling order
In an unprecedented step the FCA has issued a Dear CEO letter to a sector of the market before they have completed the firm authorisation process. The issues with CMC’s have been expressed by advice firms of all types for many years now, with the capacity of the Ministry of Justice to deal with complaints […]
May 19 – Trapped in a three way tie
The new affordability tests for existing borrowers proposed on FCA CP19/14 will allow lenders to disapply many aspects of the MMR affordability rules which have restricted the options of some borrowers. It is proposed that the new simpler rules can be applied to any mortgage customer provided they are not borrowing more money. Lender product […]
May 19 – Slaying the dragons of the MMR
In deciding as part of its Mortgages Market Study that the market needed help by revising advice and selling standards, the FCA has made some interesting statements and assertions. As one of the few still in their role from the inception of the Mortgage Market Review, I find some of the re-writing of history fascinating. […]
Apr 19 – Pleading for fairness
Following consultation, the FCA has decided to increase the ombudsman service’s award limit to £350,000 for complaints about acts or omissions by firms which take place on or after 1 April 2019. AMI has been discussing with the FCA the difficulties some firms might face in obtaining PII cover in respect of this increase in […]
Apr 19 – A study in time
The FCA final report of the Mortgages Market Study set out its plans to resolve the issues it identified. It has accepted, for now, the industry view that intervening to promote solutions to assist consumers to more easily find the right mortgage might slow innovation. However, it will continue to monitor progress to ensure that […]
Apr 19 – Is housing working?
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show housing starts in England remained reasonably robust in 2018, however, it’s unlikely that this indicates an entrenched trend towards increased building rates. The imminent removal of Help to Buy will weigh on developer appetite from later this year and data from the House Builders […]
