News Review: Mortgage Business Expo 2011


FSA to publish MMR in December By Sarah Davidson


FSA to review small businesses across Britain Lenders shirk FTB lending target


By Yuan Phoon


The Financial Services Au- thority will conduct regular reviews of small businesses in 2012 beginning in the North West region, Sheila Nicoll, di-


rector of conduct policy at the FSA, has revealed. The format of the reviews


will either be a face-to-face interview or conducted on the phone with an FSA adviser or


through the completion of an online assessment, depen- dent on the risks which the FSA sees in a particular firm’s business model. Face-to-face interviews will


By Sarah Davidson


The Financial Services Authority plans to publish the fourth mort- gage market review paper in de- cember with some believing it will be out on Friday 9th. Sheila Nicoll, director of con-


duct policy at the FSA, said the industry should “hold off buying a heavy doorstop in the next few weeks”. She said: “There is always a


balance to be struck between getting something out and get- ting something right.” She confirmed the fourth pa-


per would be a “very comprehen- sive document” covering a “re- fined view” of everything outlined in the first three mmr papers. As part of the consultation


process Nicoll said the FSA would be holding regional events next year where brokers and the industry could discuss their feedback on the reviewed mmr. robert Sinclair, director of


the Association of mortgage in- termediaries, said the FSA must deliver a final draft of the mort- gage market review now. He said: “one of the things


we’ve been pushing very hard for is to get these things out there on mmr. We’ve spent time debating this and now we need it out there in the public domain so we can have some certainty about what business will look like in years to come.”


Lenders failed to step up to the challenge of setting themselves a lending target for first-time buy- ers at mortgage Business expo. Nationwide, ge money, North-


ern rock, Barclays and Platform all claimed that agreeing a first- time buyer lending target was “inappropriate” after robert Sinclair, director of the Associa- tion of mortgage intermediaries challenged them. Sinclair said a direct-only


lender had caused a stir with the public by committing a certain amount of cash for first-time buyers only. Sinclair said: “given this com-


mitment would intermediary lenders be prepared to provide a similar commitment or are there


reasons why this isn’t possible?” mark Snape, head of sales at


ge money, said: “it wouldn’t be appropriate to put a number in but we are a huge fan of first- time buyers.” Northern rock’s John Trus-


well said it would be “difficult and wrong to try to put a number on lending to first-time buyers” while david Finlay from Barclays said he thought a target would “force the wrong behaviours from lenders”. And Paul Howard, head of


corporate accounts at Nation- wide, said: “it ain’t going to be a quick fix for first-time buyers but we are seeing lenders making steps in the right direction with higher loan to value products. “Lending to this group is im- proving and i hope we’ll see a


more general defrosting of this part of the market.” Sinclair said while he under-


stood lenders’ reluctance to commit to a number some more tangible lending objectives would help promote advised mortgages to first-time buyers. He added: “First-time buyers


are important to create transac- tion levels across the housing market. By introducing a thresh- old of activity this would pro- mote confidence through all the rest of the housing and mortgage chain.”


FSA warns on bridging or BTL for resi deals By Sarah Davidson


The Financial Services Au- thority has warned brokers against “imaginative” bridging where deals that should be regulated are put through as unregulated. Sheila Nicoll, director of


conduct policy at the FSA, said bridging could be ap- propriate and helpful to stop a chain break situation but that there are situations where it would be neither appropri- ate nor affordable for borrow- ers. She said: “imaginative an-


20 morTgAge iNTroducer DECEMBER 2011


swers require careful thought given the significance and the potential consequences. if unauthorised firms have pro- vided loans that should have been regulated or if the loan has been misdescribed just be sure that your actions are consistent with the standards expected.” She warned that the rules


state if the borrower has the “intention” to live in the property then the loan is regulated and to put it through as unregulated could mean brokers are slapped


with attempted mortgage fraud. She said: “consumers


might be encouraged to set up a company shell or to declare their intention not to live in the mortgaged property. “Similarly a buy-to-let


mortgage might seem like an answer for a consumer who can’t show the necessary in- come for the loan they want but if they do live in the prop- erty or intend to move in there it follows that the application is false and you might find yourself holding with a fraud.”


last for about two hours and will provide feedback on the good practices the FSA has seen or areas where it could see improvements can be made.


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