Speaking to Mortgage Introducer, an industry source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the current systems in place were not robust enough, with the FSA unable to police its own rules. “The FSA haven’t really cracked down on financial promotions. Other sectors are allowed to advertise without much regulation, but this doesn’t seem to be the case for working within the mortgage market.”
Another broker said: “I signed up for help with Financial Promotions with my network, but despite them giving me training and help, it said it would not take any responsibility if the FSA had an issue with my Financial Promotions. You must have a competent person dealing with this issue in your firm, and, for a one-man-band, that is hard, so I don’t risk advertising.”
Broker Julian Stephen said an industry template would help to alleviate some of the ambiguity surrounding Financial Promotions. Speaking at the Mortgage Brain and mte Premier Events he said: “An industry template that everyone agrees to would help. Unfortunately it will be hard for everyone to agree, but a template with a set font size and disclaimers in place would help.”
Bob Jones at Mortgage Brain agreed: “An industry template is an interesting idea, but getting everyone to agree will take time.”
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesman at the FSA, said: “The FSA gives guidance in its rules. However what it can’t do is pre-vet all of the Financial Promotions, and by extension a template would be totally contrary to the way we regulate financial promotions. A standard template is an interesting idea but is not the way we conduct regulation.”
