Cover


Small christmas cheer


The third and final Mortgage Market Review consultation paper [CP10/28] on distribution and disclosure was finally published by the Financial Services Authority last month, the same day consultation on the responsible lending paper closed. Sarah Davidson investigates initial industry reaction


As the nights draw in, the snow falls thick and fast and we start the advent countdown to Christmas the last place you’d have expected festive cheer was the mortgage market. Indeed, after the summer’s MMR CP


on responsible lending you’d be forgiven for thinking that all FSA regulation would be met with a Scrooge-like “Bah humbug” from an industry deeply worried about the social consequences of a restricted mortgage market. But the most recent FSA tome,


CP10/28, has elicited a more temperate response with some thinking it could even be a pre-Christmas gift for brokers. Ray Boulger, senior technical director


at John Charcol, was one of many brokers who for once welcomed the contents of CP10/28. “It’s good to have an MMR paper that


by and large we can welcome,” he says. “It makes a nice change from the previous one and I think the FSA is responding to some concerns the industry has expressed.” Jonathan Cornell, communications


director at First Action Finance agrees. “I think a lot of what they say makes a lot of sense and this paper is not as controversial as some of their others,” he says. The regulator has been at pains to reassure the market that it simply wants


22 mortgage introducer DECEMBER 2010


to bring about a better environment for everyone. “We will not rush into rule changes


without fully assessing their impact,” it says. “Although we are pressing ahead with this consultation, the final implementation dates for the proposed changes will depend on the state of the market.” All across the FSA there seems to


have been a deliberate shift to reflect this. Speaking at November’s Mortgage


Business Expo, Sheila Nicoll, director of conduct policy at the FSA, was explicit in this intention, telling delegates: “We will not rush into changes without


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