The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a consumer survey to gather information about how people are managing their mortgages and engaging with lenders.
The regulator is currently conducting a market study into the mortgage sector to consider whether competition can be improved, and it has pledged to engage with a wide range of market participants.
It aims to find out whether consumers are able to choose on an informed basis between products and services and can determine whether they represent good value for money.
One of the issues being addressed is whether commercial arrangements between lenders, brokers and other players lead to conflicts of interest or misaligned incentives that work to the detriment of consumers.
The regulator is also looking at areas including the borrower’s ability to shop around and the wider intermediary market.
Last year the FCA's director of competition Deb Jones said the regulator is not "looking to tear everything up" as a result of this review.
Speaking to FTAdviser, she clarified that the FCA was “not setting out for a wholesale change for the way the sector is regulated”. However, she stressed that the final outcome would depend upon the findings.
The survey, which will be conducted by independent research organisation Kantar Public, is to take place during August and September 2017.
The research is due to be published in early 2018.
simon.allin@ft.com
