Richard Angliss, managing director of Home Buyer Systems, explains: “One of the key changes for mortgage advisers proposed by the MMR (see section 5.55) is a radical simplification of the way that advisers can describe the service they offer to consumers. Instead of the current variety of descriptions including combinations of ‘independent’, ‘advised/non advised’. ‘single’ and ‘whole of market’, the FSA is proposing two simple labels for advisers. These are either ‘independent (whole of market)’ or ‘restricted (limited panel)’.
“If these FSA proposals are adopted, it is obvious that very few mortgage advisers – if any – would want to describe themselves as ‘restricted’, as this may give a negative message and be off-putting to potential clients. However, if mortgage advisers want to be included in the ‘independent’ category, they must be able to offer a true ‘whole-of-market’ range of products.
“We are therefore anticipating a major surge in demand for whole-of market capability, including sourcing, sales and compliance systems”.
