Brokers' destiny in the balance again

29 March 2010

The rumour mill was running on overdrive last week as yet again the future of mortgage brokers appeared to hang in the balance.

With some building societies announcing mergers and others having not-so secret talks about getting together, the options for placing business seem to be fading fast.

We may get some good news about higher LTV products sometime soon if the recovery maintains momentum and house prices continue to climb, but with the number of outlets falling product choice is bound to be limited.

The biggest fear for brokers is that banks not owned by the government might decide to turn their backs on us and follow the path taken by HSBC.

For example, does Santander now have sufficient clients and a significant enough presence in the market to only deal directly with clients in the same way it does on the Continent?

Could even Barclays be tempted to jump aboard the gravy train? As it is currently a friend of brokers I fear this would be a step too far.

With 70% of all mortgages arranged through brokers I’m bullish enough to believe that lenders still see us as a viable business model.

Any decisions taken by banks to walk away are likely to be temporary. And after all, we have been through worse than the current situation and survived.

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