AMI snubs lenders over mortgage directive rule

4 July 2011 | By Natalie Thomas

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has refused to join forces with lender trade bodies and sign a paper on the changes they want to proposals in the European Commission’s mortgage directive.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, British Bankers’ Association, Building Societies Association, Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association and the Finance and Leasing Association have all signed a cross-industry briefing paper outlining the changes they would like from the EC.

The paper includes a call for the EC to scrap its proposal on advised sales which requires lenders to present a wide-ranging analysis of products. This could see them offering competitors’ products.

Robert Sinclair, director of AMI, says: “We agree with the trade bodies on every point apart from advised sales. They clearly have concerns about this proposal of the directive because it will challenge lenders’ business models.

“We decided we could not join the campaign for this to be scrapped because if it was implemented, it would be a leap forward for the broker market.”

Sinclair has had discussions with broker communities in Holland, Italy and other European countries and says there is support for the proposals on advice to be implemented.

The joint briefing paper also calls for the EC mortgage directive to be scaled back and to cover only residential buy-to-let, not commercial mortgages.

In its latest News & Views newsletter, the CML says: “A unified position from the UK secured lending industry, mirroring the stance taken by the national government, should maximise the chances of getting the amendments we want in the directive.”

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