The Expo is to take place at the G-MEX in Manchester and both seminar theatres are sponsored by specialist mortgage lenders, Preferred Mortgages, and are free to attend.
The AMI’s seminar theatre will be chaired by AMI director Chris Cummings. The CML’s seminar theatre will be chaired by Moneyfacts group editor John Woods on day one and CML Director General Michael Coogan on day two. Representing the regulator will be Andy Watson, head of supervision, High Street Firms Division, FSA. In addition there will be two ombudsmen present to clear up any issues surrounding complaints procedures and the Financial Ombudsman Service.
This is the first year that AMI has put together a seminar programme, entitled ‘Better business for mortgage intermediaries’, for visitors to Mortgage Business Expo. The programme will be dedicated to helping visitors make regulation work and building business in a regulated world. Speakers will include Philip Ryley from TLT Solicitors, Stuart Smith from Corporate Training Partnerships and James Mayne of Purely Mortgages. The FSA’s Andy Watson and FOS’s Jane Hingston will also be speaking as well as taking part in a question time panel on day two. The panel will also include industry experts Barry Kayes, Tenet; Michael Coogan, CML; Sally Laker, Mortgage Intelligence; columnist Nic Cicutti and Peter Beaumont from Mortgage plc.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) seminar programme will focus on providing product knowledge for intermediaries. Product-based seminar topics include understanding the credit scoring and underwriting process, lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans, buy-to-let and commercial property, self-cert and non-conforming lending, overseas mortgages, using the internet as a distribution and marketing channel. Birmingham Midshires’ Martin Reynolds will be putting across the lenders’ point of view along with Nationwide Building Society’s Tom McLardie; Mortgages plc’s Julian Wells and Paragon Mortgages Andrew Lees among others.
Show Director Andy White said: “It’s our aim to give visiting mortgage intermediaries access to information that will benefit their daily working practice and improve their overall business. Introducing a second seminar theatre with speakers and content organised by AMI will enable brokers to listen to a broader range of issues from carefully selected impartial experts.”
AMI director Chris Cummings said: "The mortgage industry has successfully made the leap to statutory regulation. This year the industry can focus on building business through serving the needs of its customers. However, regulation does not simply go away. This year's Mortgage Expo has been designed to show delegates how to make regulation work for them, how to make it simply part of the way they do business, how to deliver compliance - but also how to make a profit."
CML Director General Michael Coogan said: “The purpose of Mortgage Business Expo is to provide intermediaries with an opportunity to monitor the latest market developments. It also provides a good opportunity to network. M-Day has come and gone but the real issues of operating as an appointed representative or dealing with the extra regulatory burden of being directly authorized will only now be coming to light as businesses bed down under the new regime. It is as important a time as ever to stay up to date on developments and products.”
