Speaking at the Financial Services Expo Linda Woodall, director of mortgage supervision, revealed the findings from its MMR survey of 5400 firms designed to assess the industry’s readiness for implementation.
She said: “The good news is that most firms are ready but for those which are not they must act now. They must produce a plan which identifies key actions outlining who is responsible for them, key dates for the plan and a completion date and how they plan to mitigate any risks.”
One of the most common responses from the survey related to the new execution-only sales process.
Firms raised concerns over how to implement this new process and a strong response was that they did not wish to offer this option.
Woodall said that firms were not obliged to offer this option and could chose to withdraw from the sale should the applicant decline the advice.
She said: “On the basis that the consumer has chosen an intermediary channel to receive advice we think it is unlikely the consumer will reject the advice they have been given.
“If this were to happen it would be in the firm’s best interests to reassess the consumer’s circumstances to come to a common understanding which may lead to the consumer accepting the recommendation after all.”
The FCA now plans to hold surgeries to address any further questions and to help firms with the final preparations for implementation on 26 April 2014.
