CML to lose members as downturn takes toll
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The Council of Mortgage Lenders say it will represent fewer lenders in 2010 as they give up their mem-bership due to market conditions.
Michael Coogan, director-general of the CML, made this revelation in his closing remarks at the industry trade body’s annual conference last Friday. The CML currently represents 98% of the market.
Coogan told delegates: “We know some members are feeling the pinch and regret losing them but we will hopefully welcome them back in better times.”
Meanwhile, Matthew Wyles, chairman of the CML and group development director at Nationwide, warned delegates that regulation could asphyxiate the market.
He also accused the Financial Services Authority of looking at mortgage lenders and brokers as “drug dealers at the school gates” of the mortgage market in the way they try to entice customers.
Wyles warned that building societies face a future of oppressive regulation compared with other lenders as the FSA’s sourcebook for societies effectively condemns many to leaving markets they are familiar with.
He was backed up by Tony Ward, managing director of Home Funding, who warned that the future of some societies is endangered.
Ward says: “banks and building societies currently hold circa £280bn of liquidity – mostly cash and gilts. The FSA wants this to increase by at least a 1/3 to £375bn or more and at the same time – reliance on wholesale funding to be reduced by at least 20%.”
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