Mortgage brokers face a 7.1% hike in Financial Conduct Authority fees reflecting the cost of implementing the Mortgage Credit Directive.
Mortgage brokers face a 7.1% hike in Financial Conduct Authority fees reflecting the cost of implementing the Mortgage Credit Directive.
Other advisers meanwhile are being given financial relief with a proposed cut of 1.6% in FCA fees.
In a consultation paper published this morning the regulator said it needs to raise £519.3m in the next 12 months, with investment, mortgage and general insurance intermediaries having to find 28.4% of that total.
This represents a rise of 7.8% on its £481.6m budget last year, which the regulator attributed to taking charge of consumer credit.
Advisers meanwhile will be expected to raise £73.7m in 2016/17 - £1.2m less than in the previous year when they paid £74.9m which the regulator put down to savings made across the Money Advice Service, the Financial Ombudsman Service, and Pension Wise.
The FCA said: "We have re-prioritised, made savings and made a number of operating efficiencies, to absorb the increase in costs arising from changes to our regulatory scope.
"We are, therefore, proposing to apply the decrease in our ongoing regulatory activities evenly across the fee blocks covered by this part of our annual funding requirement, unless there has been a material reason not to do so for an individual fee block. Most fee blocks will therefore see a 1.6% reduction in annual funding requirement allocation."
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, said the hike "may not be quite as bad as it seems" howeveras the FCA is estimating a 10% increase in firms’ declared income so the amount a firm will pay will fall by 2.3% on a like-for-like basis.
But he added that the mortgage industry does "keep paying for its success".
He said: “When the £200 annual fee for holding the consumer buy-to-let permission is added plus the hidden FOS levy, together with £300 minimum annual fee for consumer credit, this makes the new bill for the smallest firms look increasingly expensive.
"What was £1,000 only two years ago can now be a staggering £1,619 for the same business."
The increase alsomasks the fact that just £3.1m has been added to the costs of mortgage lenders and brokers to supervise the second charge regime.
However the total bill for lenders and brokers now stands at £36.8m and Sinclair said AMI "still awaits a proper explanation on what is costing this much".
He said the trade body would continue to challenge "unfair fee increases" on behalf of member firms, wouldask for explanations as to what this money is being spent on, wouldbe "responding vigorously" to this alleged consultation, and wouldcampaign for amendment to the "unfair" Financial Services Compensation Scheme funding arrangements that are not included in this consultation.
He added: "The mortgage industry has been hit with significant increases over previous years to pay for the Mortgage Market Review and the implementation of MCD.
"Now that these are complete there is no respite as firms continue to be dogged with higher fees.
"The FCA business plan makes no special play on mortgages but the costs continue to grow.
"No dividend for the investment in new regulation and no explanation on how the 8% increase was calculated or justified to the FCA board.”
The regulator has also revealed plans to consult on a proposed concession on fees for community finance organisations that provide mortgages.
The FCA business plan added: “A concessionary application fee for credit unions and the extension to community finance organisations that provide mortgages of fees concessions equivalent to those we give credit unions.
"These will help to deliver consumer protection by supporting firms that specialise in services to vulnerable consumers.”
The consultation closes on 27 May 2016.
