CAAMP President Jim Murphy made a bold statement a...
CAAMP President Jim Murphy made a bold statement at the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) Conference in Australia, stating that in Canada, broker market share had plummeted from around 40% to well under 30% following the financial crisis.
He further attributed this to some of CAAMP’s own members, stating that "The relationship brokers have with banks is more distant than ever, as their branch and mobile arms have become more aggressive," as reported by Australian Broker News.
Both of these statements are shocking considering that the financial crisis is widely agreed to have started in 2007. According to CMHC, the broker market share in Canada was 27% in 2007. According to CIMBL’s (now CAAMP) stats at that time, the broker market share was 31%, a far cry from 40% as stated by Murphy.
Why the President of Canada’s national association of accredited mortgage professionals would state that brokers have lost market share due to the financial crisis is rather confusing, considering the fact that the brokerage industry, according to CAAMP’s own 2010 Spring Mortgage Survey, now owns 30% of the market.
A question to ask is why didn’t Mr. Murphy use this opportunity to present the facts that Canadian brokers are doing incredibly well in spite of the financial crisis, not the other way around as he indicated. The resilience of Canada's mortgage brokers is a success story, not a story of "plummeting" business.
It is reported that Mr. Murphy further stated that a key trend in the market was the amount of energy that banks - who control about 60% of the market - were putting into direct and mobile banking, creating intense competition for local brokers.
That should raise the question of why CAAMP allows non-brokers to be members. If CAAMP’s banking members are being more aggressive in taking market share from brokers, then having them as members seems to be counterproductive. If, as CAAMP states, brokers make up the majority of CAAMP members, then why invite banks, brokers’ main competitors, to be members?
Considering the fact that CAAMP provides membership to the banks, and the fact that CAAMP’s television ad looks like it takes place in a bank branch, it appears that CAAMP may be inadvertently adding to the brokers’ woes.
Perhaps it’s time for CAAMP to actively assist all mortgage brokers in growing their businesses, as opposed to simply being a designation association. That is a question that the good members of CAAMP should consider bringing to Mr. Murphy’s attention.
