The trade body said it had been contacted by members whose businesses were suffering due to these lead generation companies, with many feeling frustrated by the low quality and quantity of leads provided.
Since ‘Mortgage Day’ there have been increasing calls from the broking community to bring all lead generation firms under the FSA’s regulatory umbrella.
Chris Cummings, director of AMI, said it will be coming up with an industry view of how good lead generation firms should operate. The next stage will be to facilitate a meeting between interested brokers and lead generation firms in order for them to lay down agreed working practices for these companies.
Cummings said: “Lead generation is a matter of real future concern. We have been asked to put together some formal proposals on how AMI can help brokers with this issue. As a trade body we are limited on what we can do as we cannot recommend certain services or businesses but we can help the industry to come up with a guide or code of conduct. Voluntary regulation is always preferable to statutory regulation.” He added that AMI aims to get the proposals underway by the New Year.
Steve Brockman, director of A2B Mtg Co Ltd, welcomed AMI’s initiative but believed FSA regulation was needed. “I agree that voluntary regulation is preferred but some of these lead generation firms will just carry on with their underhand behaviour unless proper regulation is put in place. But some sort of clarification on how these firms should be operating is welcomed.”
MI revealed last month the FSA is currently investigating the lead generation sector following concerns raised by MI’s readers.
