Brokers face hurdles in getting best outcomes for clients

According to Andrew Montlake, who is also managing director and brand evangelist for broker Coreco, there are many worries that have kept brokers "up late into the night". 

He told guests at the Ami annual dinner in London earlier this week: "As for what has been happening in our market: where do I start?

"The tired, baggy eyes of brokers who have been up late into the night submitting cases before the latest set of rate pulls, or the stressed faces of lenders dealing with the torrent of cases coming their way tells us all so much.

"What has been worrying is the ever-increasing time it takes to complete a housing transaction these days, and as pipelines have grown, completions lag behind."

He said this highlighted once again how much there was to do to make the whole home buying process easier not just for consumers and their journey, but for "all of us living it every day".

We were not London Capital, Connaught, Woodford or Greensill.Rob Sinclair, Ami

Montlake flagged the "excellent work and output" of various groups such as the Home Buyers and Sellers Group, but also touched on the "angst around some of the practices employed by a few rogue estate agents".

He said these do not seem to know their own agreed rules. 

As reported by FTAdviser previously, the poor practice of conditional selling has been noted by several brokers, and it is something that has been brought to Ami's attention several times, he said. 

According to Montlake: "I have heard some brokers bemoaning the fact that Ami should be doing more and be more outspoken on this subject.

"It is important to remember that we are not a trade union for individual brokers but a trade body representing the interests of all firms.

"As ever, much of our work is done privately, in a respectful, professional, but no less passionate manner. Just because nothing is heard directly it does not mean nothing is happening."

He said estate agents have come a long way with the vast majority proving just how valuable they are to buyers and sellers alike, but said there was "still room for the industry to mature further, as any broker who sees how a few unfair practices lead to consumers suffering most".

Therefore, he announced that Ami was officially supporting the formal registration of property agents, (ROPA) to help professionalise and finally regulate the estate agent industry. 

Government dictating events

He also branded the government's latest housing plans "bemusing", adding: "Governments and housebuilding targets don’t seem to mix" and brought up the continuous stream of regulation that seems to have been coming from the Financial Conduct Authority. 

He said: "Our friends at the FCA continue to keep us busy with so many papers to read we almost can’t plant the trees quick enough. As for the data they are asking us all for, I hope they have acquired one of those new-fangled Quantum Computers to make sense of it all.

"And, of course, we have Consumer Duty just around the corner."

His comments were matched by those of Ami's chief executive, Robert Sinclair, who said the Consumer Duty and the fair value element would "consume all our time and emotion" over the coming months.

"Government has dictated this will happen; our job is to have a great dialogue with the regulator to make this happen."

Too much, too soon

Earlier this year, Sinclair issued a statement on the FCA's various regulations and guidance that has just come in or is about to come in. 

He said the level of work the industry is being asked to do to comply was "too much, too soon".

According to Sinclair, who regularly meets with regulators and other bodies, said the level of regulatory scrutiny across financial services was unhelpful, given that some sectors are already way ahead in terms of consumer protections, and way behind in terms of complaints.

Our friends at the FCA continue to keep us busy with so many papers to read we almost can’t plant the trees quick enough.Andrew Montlake, Coreco

At the time, Sinclair said: "The mortgage and protection advice sector however does not recognise any of the harms that the FCA and others are citing to justify all these changes. 

"Consumers in this sector have low inertia and the market is highly price and product competitive."

He listed the sheer scale of the changes being asked of the industry: 

• Firms are still embedding Senior Managers and Certification Regime
• Operating new ways of post-covid working
• Applying Operational Resilience measures
• Providing enhanced data for authorisations
• Completing ongoing Covid-19 financial resilience surveys
• Considering the impact of the new Consumer Duty
• Completing the GI fair value work
• Reviewing the AR regime
• Considering both the future regulatory framework and how to protect our customers from scams. 
• This will be added to in the second half of 2022 by work on Diversity and Inclusivity. 

"All of these because the FCA thinks the industry needs a wake-up call. But the mortgage and protection advice sector however does not recognise any of the harms that the FCA and others are citing to justify all these changes.

"It has low levels of complaints other than administrative, low Financial Ombudsman Service complaint volumes, low FOS over-turn rates and only one property scam from 2005/06, settled through FSCS payments that is the majority of the sector costs. 

"We were not London Capital, Connaught, Woodford or Greensill."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com