July 15 – Advice and Distribution
The FCA post-MMR thematic sets out a number of areas of concern. All firms will need to read the full text and consider what changes they need to make to their sales processes, quality checking and also the training and procedures for their advisers. In summary, some adviser struggled to understand how much information on […]
July 15 – The technology revolution
With the arrival of the Apple watch, the digital revolution marches on. Even if Google glasses did not quite match expectations, this is a case of the product solution being too early in their evolution to be accepted. Technology is often an area where early adapters beat the true innovators. For those who have worked […]
July 15 – Proc fees: the only way is up!
The deep industry debate on procuration fees has 4 dimensions. What we must all remember however is that these are commercial arrangements between firms and must be left in that competitive space. It is important that individual lenders and intermediaries make their own judgements about the incentives and rewards needed to operate their risk based […]
July 15 – Onward and Upwards
The UK economy continues to look positive following George Osborne’s second budget of 2015. Economic growth is predicted to continue in the positive, within a range of 2.5% to 3.0% per annum for the near term. This is a strong positon given conditions in other developed nations and the built in uncertainty of both a […]
July 15 – The FCA thematic on advice post-MMR
The FCA has published its long-awaited thematic report on advice and distribution, following the Mortgage Market Review (MMR). This report is a further important milestone in the MMR journey. It sets out with some clarity the things that the industry needs to improve upon and acknowledges areas where we have made good progress. This document […]
Your 2015/16 invoice for FCA fees
Members will be aware from our earlier messages and the considerable noise in the trade press that they are likely to see a significant rise in their FCA invoice in 2015.
June 15 – Why has the remortgage market not taken off?
With mortgage rates at lifetime lows, which in my case is a lot of years, it is absurd that remo volumes remain firmly rooted at low levels. What is it that is preventing more borrowers from moving to lower rates? What is becoming clear with all the work AMI is doing on mortgage and property […]
June 15 – What should an ERC be?
When AMI first reviewed the European Mortgage Directive text, we felt that the sense of the text meant significant change for UK lenders. We were surprised when the FCA indicated that they were not intending to change their rules. AMI spends significant time looking at the rules that directly impact brokers, and less on the […]
June 15 – The proposal for seconds
One of the biggest decisions all mortgage firms will have to make to implement the provisions of the Mortgage Credit Directive is whether to include second charge loans in their scope of service. For many years, the vast majority of firms have been used to telling consumers that they cannot cover lender direct deals, further […]
The Mortgage Credit Directive: changes for all brokers
The FCA will be implementing new rules for brokers and lenders in both first and second charge markets from 21 March 2016, as a result of the Mortgage Credit Directive.
MAY 2015 – The real lending into retirement conundrum
As working patterns change and we have a more active elderly population with more people will wanting to phase in their retirement, the industry will come under increasing pressure to provide advice on more flexible mortgage products. Indeed we will need to create these products. Perceived industry wisdom has been driven the by FSA in […]
MAY 2015 – When Advice goes wrong
On top of huge increases in FCA fees, mortgage firms are being asked to pay for the despicable advice given by some investment advisers to place Self Invested Personal Pension funds into poorly performing unregulated investments. These pension advisers have taken the huge commissions and run for the hills leaving mortgage brokers who did the […]
