Danny Lovey, sole trader at The Mortgage Practitioner, cited the increase in workload caused by regulation as the main culprit for pushing brokers out of the industry.
He said: “I have a friend who has had enough, he's jacking it all in and emigrating to Australia. I know how many unhappy people there are out there but they're not willing to open their mouths.
“The people who are being forced out are the ones providing a good service to their clients - the smaller brokers. Regulation is grinding them down. Slowly but surely it is throttling the broker community. I'm having to work seven days a week to make a living. It's a very demoralised industry at the moment.”
He added: “The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) do a fantastic job. Behind the scenes they're doing all they can but they need more support from the industry.”
Andy Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, also voiced concerns over the direction of the industry after three of his ‘high quality’ brokers left the industry, blaming the increased working hours coupled with lower income streams.
He said: “It’s something that I have seen coming. Brokers don’t want to spend an extra three to four hours completing extra paper trails in order to keep up their income levels. The guys in question are good, long-serving advisers who have just had enough.”
Ben Stafford, policy officer at AMI, said: “It is unfortunate to hear that firms or individuals feel they are being driven from the market. There is still too much good business out there for this to be a large scale shift; most firms will adapt.”
