Calls for more detail in FSA network register
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There have been renewed calls for the Financial Services Authority to individually register mortgage brokers, following Mortgage Strategy’s publication of the network league table last week.
The FSA currently lists network members in terms of appointed representatives instead of individuals but this does not give a clear picture of adviser numbers according to Dev Malle, sales director at Personal Touch Financial Services.
According to the FSA’s register 711 ARs left the industry in the 12 months to June 2009.
But Malle says: “What the register does not show is how many advisers are working in AR firms or what level of business each is carrying out - it could be that there are 30 advisers in some firms.”
The register shows the top five networks have all had an overall increase in AR numbers, something Malle says should be celebrated. He says: “The biggest networks have had a net posi-tive result which is a phenomenal performance in this difficult market andbucks the trend of advisers leaving the sector.”
Andrew Strange, policy director at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, says it does not have any figures on adviser numbers because of the way FSA registration is structured.
He says: “We have been pushing for some time for the FSA to individually register brokers. This would make it easier to see how many are in the market.”
The regulator is understood to be considering individual registration of brokers as part of its review of the mortgage market due to be completed in the autumn.
