Mortgage lenders to improve electronic facilities for brokers
At the latest mortgage industry briefing hosted by Marlborough Stirling the majority (74%) of lenders said they were planning to improve their e-commerce facilities for brokers as a result of impending regulation. 56% of the same group of lenders felt that mortgage brokers would extend their product offering to include other regulated products when they become regulated for mortgage sales.
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With lenders representing over 40% of the market (based on gross lending market share sourced from the CML yearbook 2003/2004) the results indicate that mortgage regulation could present significant opportunities for brokers both in terms of more efficient transactions and expansion of their businesses into other product areas.
However, the survey suggests that mortgage regulation will not necessarily meet its objective of providing a fairer deal for consumers. 74% of lenders felt that the costs of mortgage regulation would be passed on to consumers suggesting that regulation could be a double edged sword for the general public.
Phil Heaton-Jones, head of product management and consulting, says: "Mortgage brokers will potentially use their new regulatory status to offer a broader range of services to their customers and from the consumers’ perspective the more access to advice the better. Their customers will however end up paying more and it will be interesting to see if the benefits of greater access to consistent financial advice will be able to offset the extra costs in the minds of consumers."