Questions from Hell


FSA regulation on SRB, buy-to-let and approved persons


by Bill Warren, managing director, Bill Warren Compliance LLP


the last two months have seen a massive output from the FSa across a huge range of topics all very relevant. not least of which was the well-chronicled government intentions for the future of financial services regulation and supervision. the intended transfer of powers and responsibilities has resulted in much lengthy and challenging comment and debate about the relative merits of the FSa’s replacement, the consumer Protection and markets


Q A


authority, which it appears is likely to have most interaction with intermediary firms. of more immediate


importance from a practical standpoint has been the plethora of other policy and press statements covering such crucial issues as: the rdr adviser qualifications - a subject that could have a significant impact potentially upon mortgage advisers in due course; the need for firms’ auditors to be more robust in their depth and breadth of risk assessments; and the FSa’s annual report which gives some key pointers to the regulator’s plans prior to the creation of the cPma. included in this thought


process is the regulator’s almost rhetorical question,


I and my colleagues have been reading the FSA’s policy statement relating to


arrears and approved persons and are struggling slightly to fully understand the timing of the new approved person’s requirements. It appears to say don’t do anything until we publish our final rules. Do we need to do anything now or should we wait until the end of the year?


I understand the slight confusion but in fact the message the FSA wants


to get across I believe is act now or at least make plans. The uncertainty comes from the availability of the FSA application tracking and processing system, which will be confirmed in September. I suggest you should plan and decide who and how the firm is going to approach the fit and proper checks, the CRB checks as appropriate now so you are in a strong position to obtain the application forms in Q4 2010. The FSA appears quite correctly to be concerned that firms and individuals might leave applying until the last moment and then struggle to obtain approvals on


should it be judging firms’ culture as part of its supervisory remit? one wonders if this could be tcF part two? the most negative


communications for many dedicated firms and their advisers has been the almost daily announcements of more individuals and firms being banned and/or fined usually for fraudulent activity of one sort or another, which does nothing for the image of not just the intermediary mortgage sector but the wider financial services market. Let’s hope the number of firms and ‘advisers’ reduce somewhat in the coming months. these announcements interspersed with policy


time i.e. by 30th June 2011. The FSA also emphasise how important it is for sole traders and directors of single director limited companies to register at a early stage with an umbrella body as obtaining a CRB check takes a long time, they may want to consider using the Veriphy System to achieve this, for example.


Q A 18 mortgage introducer SEPTEMBER 2010


My firm held interim authorisation for sale and rent back business and has obtained


full authorisation recently. The FSA policy paper issued last week seems to change the timing of the SRB and complaints reporting. We thought we were reporting six monthly for both on the same date but that appears not to be the case under the new regulations. Can you clarify please?


You need to keep reporting six monthly SRB data, i.e. balance sheet, profit and


loss, and sales volume as you have been during the interim regime until the 29th June 2011 via e-mail using the format supplied


statements confirming


the arrival of approved person status for mortgage compliance


oversight


personnel and for all advisers only adds to the external message perhaps of an industry riddled with problems when we know the vast majority of firms and individuals do a great job in very difficult and demanding circumstances. With more sections of the mortgage market review (mmr) to reach the policy confirmation stage very shortly such as the more difficult subjects of self- certification, affordability, income verification and regulating ‘non-bank’ charges on property, more challenges will come to the surface although with less impact.


by the FSA with your confirmation of full authorisation letter. The complaints data reporting until the 29th June 2011 remains twice a year but covers ‘the six months immediately following and the six months immediately preceding the firms accounting reference date’. From 30th June 2011 all SRB firms will use the FSA’s online reporting systems.


Q A


There have been many press comments again recently relating to the forthcoming


regulation of buy-to-let mortgages and secured loans. It is obviously coming but I can’t ascertain exactly when, do you know?


No I don’t have specific knowledge of a target date, but at the time of writing


(early July) we are awaiting a further policy statement relating to the MMR. There has to be more than a fair chance that what is intended by the HM Treasury and the FSA in this extension of their powers could be included in this policy statement.


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