"Our industry experts shared their thoughts, views and tips for intermediaries navigating a post-mini Budget, higher interest rate, and tighter-regulated environment."
As 2023 shaped up to be another unprecedented year in financial services, our industry experts shared their thoughts, views and tips for intermediaries navigating a post-mini Budget, higher interest rate, and tighter-regulated environment.
Here are the five most read feature pieces we published on Financial Reporter this year.
1. Flexible lenders left to fill the Help to Buy hole
Tom Denman-Molloy, intermediary sales manager at Mansfield Building Society, discussed alternative schemes designed to support aspiring homeowners following the end of Help to Buy.
He said that despite the other schemes available, perhaps most crucially of all is the attitude of individual lenders, stating that “lender flexibility is crucial for borrowers looking to purchase a new build home”.
2. The existential crisis regarding adviser fees
Earlier this month, Mark Snape, CEO of Broker Conveyancing, explored the future of adviser fees, particularly in a post-Consumer Duty world, where the expectations and responsibilities placed upon advisers has been ratcheted up.
He also discussed the move for advisers from a one-off transactional advice arrangement, to one centred far more on a ‘whole of life’ approach with the adviser expected to be in regular contact, to anticipate future changes in need and circumstances, and to advise accordingly.
As a result, he said advisers might well feel that a transactional commission/proc fee payment structure is no longer enough to cover all those costs that appear to be growing each and every year.
3. Landlords are moving quickly on underpriced properties
In September, Colin Sanders, CEO at Tuscan Capital, looked at the opportunities available in the buy-to-let market amid falling property prices.
He outlined the growth in landlords snapping up properties at below market value, saying: “It’s clear that the door has been opened for certain landlords, spotting the opportunity to expand their portfolios and set themselves up for more long-term returns from the property market.”
4. The outlook for first-time buyers after the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme
Another feature piece in our top 5 centred around first-time buyers and how brokers can support them following the end of government-backed schemes.
Despite an extension to the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Patrick Bamford, head of international business development at Qualis Credit Risk, said that “in the very near future, the industry will have to stand on its own two feet”.
Speaking at the start of 2023, he correctly predicted a growing number of high LTV products outside of the Government Guarantee Scheme as the market continued to recover from the mini-Budget.
5. Consumer Duty: Who monitors the customer?
Back in April, Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh, discussed whether the role of monitoring customer vulnerability as part of the FCA's Consumer Duty lies with intermediaries or manufacturers.
Gething argued that “it doesn’t matter who undertakes the monitoring just so long as it happens”, highlighting client retention opportunities for intermediaries – “Whoever wants to keep the relationship over the long term must be the one to undertake the monitoring responsibility.”
