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Brokers want more info on Consumer Duty

Journalist: Jake Carter, Mortgage Introducer

ended 19. July 2023

Six in 10 brokers want to have more information about the new regulation from financial providers to help them with the imminent changes, according to Hodge.

Where do you think the knowledge of some other brokers might be lacking?

How would brokers like to be taught this additional information?

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
There has been a lot of information from various sources but, in truth, I have found it all quite overwhelming, and at points, confusing. The FCA Live & Local event was particularly helpful. The main issue, as always with the FCA, is everything is down to interpretation and when they are wanting us to be clear and concise, their very own guidance, website and handbook is one of the most confusing and jargon loaded I have seen! Sadly, the status of the mortgage market in recent years and months has put a significant amount of additional pressure around Consumer Duty as we, as brokers, don't all have separate departments to implement this. We have been trying to assess our businesses while juggling the normal business requirements and volumes along with last minute rate pulls at various times along with the carnage that has enveloped the industry in recent months.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Like always, the FCA states some high-level principles, which have plenty of merit but lack everyday guidance on their implementation. Good networks and mortgage clubs dissect this information and translate it into usable guides for their members. However, that leaves many, mostly directly authorised firms, who are still unsure of exactly what Consumer Duty means for them in their day-to-day application. Luckily for us, it will have minimal impact, as we were already set up in a customer-centric way within our firm.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
There is a huge volume of information available to brokers around Consumer Duty; the biggest challenge is finding a reliable source that is not using it to push their own products or agenda in some way. Our trade body, The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), has produced some excellent and easy-to-understand Consumer Duty factsheets for its members that will be ideal for what most brokers need. Consumer Duty is a sea-change in the way the regulator expects us to behave, or rather the way we record how we behave, as the vast majority of brokers always had the consumer at the centre of what they do.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
Any adviser in July 2023 suggesting that they need "more information about the new regulation" relating to Consumer Duty needs to close up and find another career. Professional advice firms have all been fully engaged with the FCA's new benchmark for over a year, have made significant changes to their processes/procedures, and are looking at the 1st August commencement date as a new dawn for the UK financial services industry. We at www.MortgageShop.com have even sat in a room with the FCA, listened to, and probed the new criteria with the regulator to ensure that we are on the same page - it's what you do if you take your positions seriously. I am praying that this data from Hodge is quite historic and that these 6 out of 10 are now on the right page with this, if not I see a hell of a lot of pain coming their way over this.
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Joe Stallard
Director and Advisor at House and Holiday Home Mortgages
We’ve been really well supported by our mortgage network, Mortgage Intelligence. Consumer Duty has been on the horizon for a while so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. And to be fair, it's an adjustment in the regulatory landscape to encourage everyone in financial services to make sure they've got a customer-centric attitude and focus on putting the needs of their customers first. Which is a no-brainer surely? Flexing the record-keeping muscles keeps us fit and we're ready to go...

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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
As professionals, we should have been doing this type of service from Day 1. The issue has been over the years, greedy people and bad brokers have tried to rush everything with only regard for their pay. We should have it in the initial training that they are graded on their customer service too. Not just how they say hello, but what they do to help people who may need that extra. I was told- treat people how you would want your elderly mum to be treated. If you would never dream of skipping over things, or not allowing some extra time for your mum, who do it to someone else? Take the time, help people.