Sinclair said the trade body had “set the wheels in motion” with the MFF, and was awaiting the final decision.
Currently the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association have representation on the forum, as do members of the legal profession and surveyors while brokers do not have a dedicated voice representing their views.
AMI’s move comes following a call on Sinclair from PMS executive chairman, John Malone, who has been speaking to intermediaries about fraud over the past few weeks in an attempt to get brokers to engage with fraud prevention. Malone said he was “concerned that intermediaries do not have a voice in the forum”.
He added: “That tells me, brokers will get blamed when things go wrong because there’s solicitors, valuers, lenders at the forum, but no-one fighting for intermediaries.”
Sinclair said that AMI agreed it was important that intermediaries be properly represented at the MFF.
He said: “The forum already has a range of members and we’ve asked if AMI could be represented. Whilst the CML and BSA, both of which are involved with the MFF, are involved in the manufacturing end of the mortgage process, intermediaries are so involved in distribution that it’s important that all the points of entry can be appropriately covered off in terms of fighting fraud.
“There are a whole host of areas where fraud can be identified and if intermediaries actively help to fight against it, we have more chance of preventing fraud and bringing people to justice.”
Malone added: “All aspects of fraud are costing this country around £30 billion a year and mortgage fraud is anywhere between £2 billion and £5 billion. It’s a major issue, that money is fuelling and funding terrorism, drug running, prostitution – all things which are damaging our economy. The point of these talks I’m doing is to establish an awareness programme with intermediaries, many of whom don’t think fraud applies to them but it’s all around them.”
“We’re currently the only profession that isn’t represented on the MFF. That tells me that intermediaries will get blamed when things go wrong, because we don’t have a voice. Intermediaries should be round the table - this is a serious issue.”
