The FCA says its investigation into mortgage market competition has been moving slowly because it created unforeseen amounts of work.
The regulator was due to publish an interim report this summer, but this has not happened.
Mortgage Strategy understands this will come in Q1 2018, with the full report later in the year.
Recent FCA board meeting details say the delay has been due to workload.
The board minutes say: “On policy implementation, the mortgages market study entailed a lot of work and so was moving more slowly than anticipated”.
The regulator’s market study will look at whether commercial arrangements between lenders, brokers and other players lead to conflicts of interest or “misaligned incentives” that harm consumers.
It will also find out if consumers can make “effective decisions” at each stage of the buying process, and how tools and advice affect this.
The FCA is focusing on first charge residential mortgages.
Areas it is interested in include best buy tables and the impact of the Mortgage Market Review.
The FCA is also reviewing if better technology can help consumers, including greater use of digital channels to deliver information or advice.
The regulator first announced plans for a mortgage market study in May 2016.
Rent-to-own
The board minutes add that the regulator still plans to examine the rent-to-own market.
In July the regulator said it wanted to consult on how consumers use rent-to-own and whether more affordable alternatives are available.
Made me smile a bit; I can’t use “Workload” as an excuse for failing to meet Compliance time-scales, but it seems okay for the FCA to miss their own time-scales (by a year or more!).