Martin Maynard, managing director at Mortgage Next, said the FSA had overlooked the DA sector so far, but would tighten its grip in the coming months.
With this in mind, Mortgage Next Partners has launched a tie in with Sesame, extending its ‘Passport’ initiative to provide a bespoke compliance service for DA intermediaries.
Maynard said: “Compliance is a big issue, and if the FSA announces it is going to do a check of your firm it is always good to have someone check over what you are doing. Many directly authorised mortgage brokers have not yet experienced the full effect of dealing with the FSA over regulatory matters and may decide they need to bolster their in-house compliance capabilities for the future. Brokers have the choice to buy either a comprehensive ongoing compliance service or an individual elements on an ad hoc basis.”
He added: “Following regulation, the FSA obviously had a timetable of what it wanted to achieve. It would seem the concern for DAs was not the top of the list. There are thousands of DAs in the market that have never had FSA visits and it has to happen. If a significant period of time goes by without the FSA looking at the DA market then there will be questions of the capability of regulation. I think the FSA will look closely at this sector, which is why we have decided to launch this proposition into the market.”
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesperson at the FSA, dismissed suggestions that the regulator was focusing on appointed representatives (ARs) over DAs, and said the forthcoming FSA industry review would tackle the whole market. “The mortgage effectiveness review will look at the benefits the consumer have got from regulation, as well as how firms have responded to regulation. This applies to ARs and DAs, and is a review across the entire market.”
