Digital training, higher certification and greater numbers of mortgage professionals are on the cards for Lee Travis, the new head of professional development at the Personal Finance Society.
Mr Travis, who joined in 2015 after nearly six years at the New Model Business Academy, is head of professional development at the Society of Mortgage Professionals (SMP).
Last November, he replaced the SMP’s Gary Little, who has left to take up a new post in the mortgage distribution sector. Mr Travis has been tasked with delivering business-relevant CPD through a national schedule of conferences and events.
Nearly four months into the job, Mr Travis said his ambition was to grow the existing SMP membership of 7,800 advisers, working with the PFS and using its “template as to what good looks like” as a foundation to getting thousands more advisers on board at the SMP.
Mr Travis said: “When I first joined the NMBA, it had roughly 4,000 members, and when I left it had approximately 16,000. I want to see that sort of phenomenal membership growth at the SMP.
“Through the work of the SMP, I want to see a sector that is valued by the industry and the public, with more recognition of our members from consumers.”
He is also responsible for the society’s professional development programme.
To this extent, the SMP is working on a digital training proposition, with an aim of delivering it in the second quarter of 2016, to help mortgage advisers conduct their CPD online.
Through the work of the SMP, I want to see a sector that is valued by both the industry and the public Lee TravisThe SMP is also working on promoting R07, the advanced certificate in mortgage advice.
“The current level four certificate is good to achieve, but we are looking to R07 as a way of being inspirational in raising standards across the industry”, Mr Travis said.
He added: “Cemap has always been the go-to qualification across the mortgage industry and the PFS and SMP want advisers to know that now there are other options.”
So far, the SMP has arranged 10 events through the first half of the year, which will take place across the country and focus on the implementation of the European Union’s Mortgage Credit Directive.
This is set to come into force on 21 March 2016. Mr Travis said the SMP’s nationwide events would help members to get ready for the regulatory environment, and pledged to deliver even more national events in 2017 for mortgage professionals.
Adviser view
Brian Brotherton, principal of Essex-based The Partnership, said: “Creating more exams is not needed, in my view. I am already QCF Level four. I don’t see a great need for all of these exams. If they were more business-relevant that would be helpful for a wider range of brokers. But brokers belong to networks that do all sorts of seminars and training, so I do not know whether there is much call for additional training and qualifications.”
