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Less rogues, less rules: Ami tells FSA
- Story by: Emma Ann Hughes
- Magazine: MortgageAdviser
- Published Wednesday , June 18, 2008
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The FSA should concentrate on keeping rogues out of the industry rather than binding advisers with more red tape, according to Chris Cummings.
The director general of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries told members the FSA needed to reprioritise its work to make sure advisers struggling in the current climate did not collapse under the weight of additional regulation.
Advisers and lenders gathered at the Cafe Royal in London last week for Ami's annual dinner heard Mr Cummings call for the regulator to shelve "expensive ideas" for a later date when the industry could afford it.
Mr Cummings said: "Please FSA - no new regulation or legislation. We just cannot cope with it. Consider your role in freeing up the lending market."
John Gummer, chairman of Ami, said it was crucially important the FSA recognised the world has fundamentally changed and it needs to make sure the industry can prosper.
He said: "It needs to concentrate on the next 18 months to two years on ensuring lenders can lend and its regulation does not mean they need to hoard capital to meet the demands of the FSA."
Mr Gummer said in recognition of the tough times ahead for Ami members, the association was hosting business diversification seminars to help members rebalance their businesses. Equity release, overseas mortgages and commercial deals would all be explored in these events, he said.
Resuscitating the mortgage market will also require the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries to talk more about consumers in the national press, according to Mr Gummer.
He said: "This is going to be a tough time and Ami must be on the front foot. I do not see Ami as merely a trade body. We will not get our way if we are seen merely to respond to narrowing lending criteria and the needs of our members.
"We will get our way because we understand the business we are in and respond to the consumers who our members serve. "It is very easy at the moment to just sound off but the crucial thing is to change the way we are to operate."