Mustafa Karim, mortgage operations manager at Smart Lenders Finance, claimed that he went to a branch of Abbey and while he was there an adviser was telling customers that if they made a recommendation they would receive 0.2 per cent commission.
Karim said: “We, as advisers, sweat to get the business, making sure that we have given the right advice, treated our customers fairly, pay network memberships and so on, only to receive a disappointing commission of 0.3 per cent from Abbey. Do you think what Abbey is doing to brokers is fair?
“It’s deeply unfair that only brokers have to treat their customers fairly. We need to be treated in the same manner by lending institutions.
"We go through the works of Financial Services Authority regulation and members of the public are earning a better commission rate for doing nothing.
"If other lenders started doing this then they will be putting members of the public in direct competition with us.”
Nici Audhlam Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey, said: “It’s nonsense to suggest that we don’t support brokers because we operate a referral agreement.
"Like most lenders, we operate referral arrangements with professionals such as solicitors, accountants and estate agents – and only when they are not affiliated to another broker and cannot offer regulated advice themselves.
"This is normal practice throughout the industry, and comprises a fraction of our business.
“We remain committed to brokers as the most important source of our business. We always advise that customers should seek advice from suitably qualified brokers.
"Moreover, brokers have the backing of back office admin, business development managers and exclusive deals which are better than any other channel.”
