'Business growth to come from remortgaging' says AMI's Sinclair

21 March 2017

Mortgage intermediaries who want to see growth throughout 2017 and 2018 should look towards the remortgage market and should prioritise their existing clients in order to generate business.

That’s the view of Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), who was speaking at today’s Financial Services Expo (FSE) Glasgow, the premier exhibition for the financial services industry in Scotland. “If you’re going to get business growth in 2017 and 2018, it’s likely to come from the remortgage market,” he said. “That means you have to talk to existing clients.”

Sinclair also said intermediaries were likely to see growth in their overall market share in the next few years however technology would have an impact.

“I see the intermediary market share as being incredibly powerful, but technology might get in the way,” he said. “In terms of gross mortgage lending a figure of around £250bn per year is probably about the right number. Intermediary share will continue to rise upwards.”

Sinclair highlighted a number of issues that could impact on the mortgage intermediary and their ability to provide the right advice to their clients. In particular, he stressed ‘the hidden market’ of Product Transfers which lenders are not detailing. “Does the customer understand this, and are they aware of what they’re getting by conducting a product transfer?” he asked.

One further issue which he said AMI was speaking to both the CML and IMLA about was that of lenders’ withdrawal of binding offers. “My view of the market post-MCD is that unless there is a fraud or a fundamental change of circumstances then that offer should be binding,” he said. “I see that change as a change to the customer’s circumstances but I’m seeing cases where the lender, or the valuer, has done something wrong and then the offer gets withdrawn.”

Sinclair said he wanted lenders, in these circumstances, to understand the potential damage that was being done to customers and that they would have already spent a significant amount of money prior to the offer being withdrawn.

Finally, Sinclair said that competition amongst lenders was offering an interesting conundrum. “If I’m honest I think there are probably too many lenders at the moment,” he said. “Greater competition does equal greater pressure. I think they’ll take more risks, which is good as many were too conservative, but the big question is how do they take that risk? Brokers need to understand the lenders that will cover the clients who are more at the edges of the market.”

FSE Glasgow is taking place today at the Hilton Glasgow Hotel, 1 William Street, Glasgow. It offers a range of over 40 exhibitors including the FCA.

Further details on Financial Services Expo Glasgow are now available at: http://www.financialservicesexpo.co.uk/midlands