The move is aimed at helping brokers show the Financial Services Authority (FSA) more thoroughly how they came to make mortgage product decisions for the client and comes from feedback the packager had recieved.
Andrew Seymour, chairman of Optoma, said: “The changes to the AIP show our brokers we are being more proactive in giving them a trail to show how we came to the decision regarding the three lenders that we recommended for that client. It suggests why that lender would be good but still lets the broker choose.
“Even though we are not regulated ourselves, we are thinking along the lines of the intermediary and the fact they have to justify to the regulator every step of the mortgage application.”
The feature is set to come online in the next couple of weeks and will give explanations on the AIP, which is only available on its non-conforming products, regarding all 14 lenders in its product range.
The feature, which lists both prime and non-conforming lenders, is also aimed at helping intermediaries cope with regulation.
Seymour added: “Even though some lenders may not offer non-conforming deals, brokers would still have to show in a full audit why they didn’t choose them, so with this we are dealing with the current market situation and also advancing our proposition for our brokers.”
David Aylmer, joint-managing director of Dashboard Enterprises, said: “The more information that is available, and the more open the process is, the better. If the information is available, it shows how the underwriter has come to the decision and the rules they are applying so it can only be a good thing.”
