Restricted panels will cause broker struggle

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said that any packager, network or directly authorised broker with a limited number of lenders on their panel will run into problems, particularly if it is wholly made up of lenders that securitise.

Boulger said: “If people have a panel of half a dozen lenders or less that doesn’t include balance sheet lenders, they will have problems. The whole of market broker is much better placed to cope.

“Many packagers operate from pretty limited panels. The key is the size of the panel and who’s on it. A lot of non-conforming business goes through packagers and the majority of packagers have fairly limited panels.”

Eddie Smith, managing director of the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance, said: “He’s making a fair point. If brokers have been dependent on products that are no longer there, it’s going to be difficult for those that haven’t begun to diversify.”

Answer ten questions to win Amazon vouchers!

Get the daily news delivered to your inbox

Find the latest industry jobs