Brokers and industry figures respond to AMI/IMLA online guide

This is clearly a well-intentioned educational piece that should be welcomed as not all intermediaries have an in-depth knowledge of the way funding markets work. Never knock knowledge, never knock education.

I don't think I have ever read something as condescending towards brokers as this guide. Implicit in it is a suggestion that we should all accept working to arbitrary rate deadlines of midnight when lenders shut at 5pm, and drop all our plans to key an application when a lender gives an hour's notice, because we are not intelligent enough to understand how lenders are funded. It's patronising in the extreme. How many members of IMLA or the AMI are working every weekend or cancelling holidays to support clients? Brokers are taking a battering from all sides and I expected more from a body that is supposed to be our voice. All of this with the pending deadline for Consumer Duty. How are lenders justifying their actions in terms of promoting good customer outcomes?

You’d naturally expect IMLA to back the lenders, but it’s disappointing to see that the AMI have rolled over and backed down, as they are meant to be the voice of brokers. With a growing number of brokers raising concern around lenders' handling of rate withdrawals and the additional stress they are creating for customers and brokers alike, it really shows a lack of any real interest in supporting the very people that fund them. Given that the AMI claim to “tirelessly lobby for change”, question marks remain about how true they are to their own word given this kind of guide.

At the start of the guide is the line "It is designed to be accessible for anyone in the industry and assumes no prior knowledge." This is a guide for the whole industry and makes it clear it's trying to be accessible to all levels of skill and experience, which is no bad thing as there will be a group of younger, less experienced brokers who may not have built up the knowledge of how the different lender funding models work, yet are being asked to work in a current environment where this is key. Having worked in a lender prior to becoming a broker, with experience in product design and distribution, the guide does a good job of giving a broad overview of the dark art of product pricing. I think there will be some that feel the AMI is teaching them to suck eggs, but we have to remember that the target audience for this is very wide with a very diverse level of prior knowledge and experience, good on AMI for stepping up to the challenge and trying to help.

While a minimum notice period for product withdrawals would be a nice utopia, in the real world it isn't practical. In effect, it could have worse outcomes for clients, with lenders deliberately putting prices higher to absorb any potential rises in their costs. The fact of the matter is that, like the rest of us, lenders need to make money. We don't work for free and neither do they. It is, as they say, what it is. All that said, it's obviously a difficult time for consumers. They're having to make huge financial decisions at breakneck speed based on uncertainty at every turn. As experienced guides who know the territory, this is where we can shine as intermediaries, showing them alternative routes and helping them map out their path based on sound judgement. I continue to be impressed by the AMI and welcome the guide to help educate and tackle some of these challenges.