Round-table
are lenders and our objectives are to protect those interests. It is not the ASTL’s function to introduce rigid rules or codes to inhibit the way lenders lend. Our main function and the main requirement of our lender members is to deal with the regulator and on that score we have the most outstanding success. If it hadn’t have been the combined and collective voice of the industry talking to the FSA then the MMR would’ve been far harsher on the short-term lending industry. There has been relief and people have been pleased that we have been separated out and given special treatment. We’re still in the middle of all that but I think ASTL members expect to come out with the very best regulatory framework which will lay down standards. The MMR is a very serious piece of work and will dictate how people operate and create these regulated loans.
What about your associate members?
AB: They’re service providers, they’re not members, they have no vote and they have no influence. They are firms of solicitors and brokers and they sell their services to the members. Every decision taken by the ASTL is taken by its members. So we are an effective, representative, successful trade body. Is there more to be done? Yes and we will do more.
If there are 100 lenders in the market then why don’t you have more members?
AB: First of all there’s no compulsion, it’s everybody’s choice.
There is also no reliable source on whether there are 100 or not. LG: You’ve got to recognise where this industry has come from over the last 15 - 20 years. Prior to the credit crunch it was a sub-prime non-status lending product and I think it’s fair to say that around 1997 to 1998 there were probably only three or four recognised lenders and a whole host of faceless people. They can be legitimate lending but not high profile lending. Now the industry is massive compared to what it was. AB: We’re open. Any lender who sees value in joining a trade body, they’re welcome to join. We have a very precise process of accepting and inviting. All members get to comment on anyone who applies. But I suspect that of all lenders, let’s guess it’s a 100, that 50 are too small, are non-compliant, wish to remain anonymous.
Malcolm Scanlon: Do you approach lenders? AB: Yes we do. MF: Doesn’t that disparity, between the number that are trading in the market and those who have agreed to be somewhat regulated or associated with the trade body, give credence to the argument that trade bodies don’t work because there is no framework? AB: The FSA has acknowledged that we are representative of our industry, that’s why they take our views into account. If there are a lot of smaller lenders out there who are maybe non-compliant, then there’s not much anybody can do about it and they’re not of concern to the FSA. AT: You have to have a set of rules
before you allow people in to let you be credible and the NACFB has some very strict rules and we’re not shy in saying no to people, we’re not shy in suspending people and we’re not shy in expelling people from the association either and that makes us stronger because there’s a much more concentrated core of good people. By excluding people who are not part of the association and working with the lenders, we’re trying to exclude those people from the market altogether. When I go to the FSA - and I also do a lot of lobbying and I spend a lot of time in the House of Commons - I confidently know that what I say will have people behind me who are the right kind of people. So if you tell me that there’s 1,000 brokers in the NACFB but there are 2,000 out there then I don’t want the other 1,000 out there because they don’t fit what we’re representing. MF: That’s exactly the argument. If everyone looks back at the evolution of the mortgage business, it was
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