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Have you taken up any additional skills, training or qualifications to expand your business?

Journalist: Shekina Tuahene, Mortgage Solutions

ended 09. August 2023

Now that Consumer Duty is here and advisers are required to ensure consumers get the best outcome, have you broadened your knowledge or training to make sure there aren't any blind spots in your advice?

  • If so, which qualifications/training/skills have you taken on? 
  • Are you using informal means to improve your knowledge i.e learning more about other markets?
  • What benefit has this new knowledge had on your business and the advice you offer clients?
  • If you haven't undergone training or gained qualifications, do you plan on doing so? Why/why not?

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
As a Directly Authorised company with relevant permissions, we as advisors must do what we can in terms of continued development, as a company and as an individual. Due to the effects of Covid and currently the Cost Of Living crisis, in addition to my CeMAP, which I have held for many many years, I have since obtained my CeRER qualification to offer Equity Release advice to our current and prospective clients, and I am now undertaking my (CPSF) Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance to offer even more solutions for Bridging and Development Finance. We have a duty as advisors to hold the correct qualifications and have responsibilities to ensure that clients are correctly informed at all times of all the options open to them.
The benefits are enormous, as ensures with the correct permissions, a broker can offer a qualified, holistic approach to mortgage and loan advice, which I believe, as advisors, we must offer to clients.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Personally have not obtained any further qualifications, but a broker is always reading and learning and improving their industry knowledge. As a firm, we have expanded into Equity Release, Commercial, Investment and Pensions and lately Wills and Estate Planning, so by bringing in expert knowledge we can ensure as many needs the clients have are identified and advice given. Consumer duty has not changed anything really for us, as we were already all about the customer with no targets and charged a fair fee for our high level of service. Our network ensured all our advisers have the details of expectations around consumer duty, which for us is just common sense.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Property Developer and Portfolio Landlord at The Kushman Group
As dedicated professional landlords, we have long recognised that with the burgeoning complexity and regulation in the residential rental property market, the imperative for landlords to embrace education and training has become undeniable. The traditional image of a landlord has evolved dramatically, as intricate rental regulations and changing legal requirements demand a comprehensive understanding of property management and investment. With the buy-to-let property market continuing to expand, landlords must equip themselves with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities of this dynamic landscape.

Landlords today have an array of education options at their disposal, ranging from landlord associations and professional bodies to landlord mentoring companies and specialized courses. These platforms provide essential training on topics such as legal compliance, tenant relations, evictions, property maintenance, and investment strategies.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
We've been very well guided by our network, The Openwork Partnership, who have set up two bespoke Consumer Duty training modules through their Business School to not only inform but also test, that advisers are up to speed with the changes that Consumer Duty will bring and what's expected of us. Changes are now rolling out, again guided by Openwork, in terms of defining our value proposition and what other changes we need to make within our businesses to processes and systems to meet the new standards. I am also looking through the Consumer Duty guides and listening to the podcasts that have been released by the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), which are a further excellent source of information on what the Duty means in terms of business structure and advice delivery.