AR firms actively looking to recruit new advisers will be financially supported by Stonebridge who are attempting to help bolster numbers across the board.
The support is available to those firms who are looking to recruit from outside the industry and will be used to fund each individual as they seek to gain their QCF Level Three Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP).
While the individual candidate will have to pay for the first module of the qualification, Stonebridge Group will fund the second and third modules. Prospective mortgage advisers will need to take the ifs School of Finance’s CeMAP qualification.
Post-qualification, Stonebridge will provide full monitoring and checks of the advice and work carried out by the new adviser until the individual is deemed to be able to advise without supervision of this nature.
Richard Adams, managing director of Stonebridge Group, commented: “It’s quite clear that the number of qualified mortgage advisers is dwindling and therefore firms who want to expand their propositions are having to look outside the mortgage industry to find new recruits.
“This means that our AR members will need to fund and resource new candidates as they work towards their qualifications; in order to ease this burden and to ensure a growing pool of advisers within the Stonebridge Group we have decided to launch this recruitment programme and to help fund new candidates through the qualification process.
“There must be a commitment from the individual themselves and the AR firm but where this is in place, Stonebridge will do all we can to support recruitment.
“Within the mortgage industry we all have to acknowledge that the qualified mortgage adviser pot is getting smaller and therefore it is initiatives like this that are necessary in order to bring the next generation into the sector. The Credit Crunch and recession have seen the number of mortgage advisers fall rapidly, perhaps to around less than 10,000 from a high point of 30,000.
“While the mortgage market is not where we would like it to be, there have been positive signs lately and the fact is that consumers’ need for mortgage and financial advice has never been greater.
“There is a whole generation of advisers who will be leaving the industry in the next couple of years and we need to make sure we are replacing these with quality, well-qualified people.”
