Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo London, Chris Cummings, director-general of AMI, issued a number of warnings and explained the pressing concerns both AMI and intermediaries will have to deal with.
Cummings warned of ‘ambulance chasing’ firms targeting the mortgage market. He said the industry around endowment complaints would not last forever and such firms would be looking for other sectors to move into, warning the enormity of the mortgage market might entice such firms to actively target it.
Cummings also spoke of the forthcoming MCOB review. He said: “The last thing we need is further change to MCOB; we don’t need a full review.”
He also had a word of warning for those brokers yet to confront the serious impact Home Information Packs (HIPs), due to ‘go live’ on 1 June 2007, would have on them. “HIPs will affect intermediary business,”
he said.
“Every seller will need to have a HIP and firms need to think about how they will respond to this change. We also need to be doing more to increase levels of commission as there is increasing margin pressure.”
Ben Stafford, head of policy at AMI, highlighted record-keeping as a major concern for the intermediary trade body and urged brokers to get their record-keeping in order otherwise they would incur the wrath of the FSA.
He said: “Every firm should have read and understood the FSA rules but there are some still out there that are not doing enough to be compliant with the rules. The issue is of major concern to AMI and it has to be put right sooner rather than later or firms will suffer massive liabilities.”
