In a presentation at the BDS Mortgage Group’s ‘Winners in Business’ exhibition Keith Hale, mortgage policy at the FSA, flatly denied that the FSA was in the midst of planning an MCOB review.
The denial came after Chris Cummings, director at AMI, said: “There have been rumours being bandied around the industry that there may be an MCOB review towards the end of the year.
“I believe that the industry has been through enough over the past six months and am calling for the FSA to push back any such review for another two years.”
Keith Hale refuted the review claims. He said: “An MCOB review is not in our immediate sights. We fully understand the huge procedures that firms have had to go through and the costs incurred are still visible on their balance sheets.
“I can’t see any immediate changes benefiting anybody and would like to see the industry settle into a quiet period. Of course there may be minor tweaks here and there but these will be a result of intermediary feedback.”
When quizzed on how small firms will be supervised, he said: “It is early days in terms of supervision and the relationship is a two-way thing with intermediaries – we want to hear concerns and issues in order to help solve them.
“There will be no big stick waving; around 400 new applications have been received since regulation so it’s safe to say that the FSA has not killed the mortgage business.”
Jon O’Brien, operations director at the Professional Mortgage Packagers Associates (PMPA), said: “It is inevitable that there will be an MCOB review at some point but the regulated industry still needs time to bed-in.
“It is refreshing to hear that the FSA realises what the mortgage industry has gone through.”
