As of 31 March the regulator had received a total of 13,210 registrations for application packs, of which 5,945 were from firms in the mortgage market, and 7,265 were from general insurance firms.
There were 4,229 applications for authorisation, with around 80 per cent doing so electronically. Due to the large number of firms which applied at the last minute, the FSA did not have an accurate breakdown of the applications. However, it did estimate that around 70 per cent of applications had come from mortgage firms.
Sarah Wilson, director of high street firms at the FSA, said: “We are delighted by this level of engagement, and are working hard to process all these applications using new streamlined processes. We continue to expect to issue the first set of decisions, the ‘minded to authorise letters’, later this month.”
Chris Cummings, director of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), said: “It looks as if the predictions of around 60 per cent direct authorisation may be correct. There may well be another rush of applications at the end of this month.
“It also appears that a large number of brokers have taken Sarah Wilson at her word and taken the FSA insurance policy of direct authorisation, ensuring they will definitely be trading come ‘Mortgage Day’.”
Cummings went on to say that he believed some intermediaries were applying for direct authorisation to put themselves in a stronger bargaining position with networks.
