Mortgage Introducer revealed last week that the FSA had confirmed it would be reviewing MCOB at the end of this year with a view to relaxing the general framework and principles of the rules.
But Chris Cummings, director-general of AMI, said the review is only likely to involve limited parts of the rules.
He added that the planned simplification of the Code of Business (COB) rules could mean a cross-contamination into MCOB.
He said: “We expect the FSA will only be looking at parts of MCOB rather than undertaking a full review. It will also be simplifying the COB rules – which are used as a framework for MCOB. So this could also result in changes being made to MCOB. But we will have to wait and see if these are positive changes.”
He added: “The next few years will bring about big changes. Next year we have a review of the EU Directive, then the single mortgage market directive. All of this will affect intermediaries.”
Bill Warren, director of The Complete Network, agreed. “The FSA is most likely to wait two years from the start of regulation to give MCOB a major review.
“But it makes sense to look at it after a year as a lot of things need tidying up. The EU directives will pile on more regulation but may not add any real value.”
