MortgagesJun 10 2016

BBA backs merger with other trade bodies

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BBA backs merger with other trade bodies

Members of the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) have voted for the organisation to consolidate with three other bodies to form a new trade body.

The BBA will now join the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Payments UK and UK Cards Association in a new body representing the financial services industry, after 94 per cent of its membership voted in favour of the proposal.

BBA chief executive Anthony Browne said it is right that members get effective representation and value for money from their trade associations.

He added: “We look forward to working with the other trade associations and to providing a world-class service for our members across the banking sector.”

The vote comes in response to consolidation plans proposed by The Financial Services Trade Associations Review, an independent review into the effectiveness and efficiency of the trade association landscape aimed at strengthening representation of the industry.

The review, led by former Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards, was set up by a steering committee of major UK banks and a building society, to consider the wide range of existing trade associations at a time of significant change in financial services, persistent low levels of customer trust and diverse new industry entrants.

Plans for the new trade association will now be taken forward by the interim main board of the new trade association during the summer, with a new independent chairman and leadership board to be appointed.

In April, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed three quarters of its membership voted in favour of the merger.

CML chairman Peter Hill explained that its members only supported the proposals on condition a mortgage council as powerful as his organisation would be created.

Both the Building Societies Association and the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association have already ruled themselves out of the merger.

peter.walker@ft.com