11 Firms apply for lending authorisation in one year
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Eleven firms have applied to the Financial Services Authority for authorisation to carry out mortgage lending in the past 12 months, with Portillion confirming it has made an application in the last few weeks.
Mortgage Strategy revealed last month that the would-be lender had a new unnamed investor.
Roger Brown, sales and marketing director at Portillion, says: “An application has been made in the last month but we are still in the early stages.”
A Freedom of Information request by Mortgage Strategy to the FSA reveals 11 firms applied between April 20 2010 and April 20 2011 for authorisation to carry out mortgage lending. Of those, one application was made between January 1 2011 and April 20 2011.
Brown, however, says its application was made after April 20 2011.
The FSA says it granted five permissions in 2011 for mortgage lending and eight between April 20 2010 and April 20 2011.
The regulator aims to make a decision within 12 months of receiving an application. This means some of the permissions granted in 2010 could have been applied for in 2009.
Roger Morris, head of sales at Precise Mortgages, which gained its authorisation in October 2010, says he expects to see more lenders enter the market in the coming year as appetite increases among foreign investors.
Morris says: “We are going to see some new lenders enter and possibly some old ones re-enter but with new branding and identities. There is starting to be a lot more interest from investors overseas.”
Rob Jupp, managing director of Brightstar Financial, says he is also hearing that investors, particularly from the US, are eyeing the UK.
He says: “I know of a handful of lenders that have applied to the FSA and I think the number of authorisations is positive for the industry.”
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