It’s a game of two halves, argues Phil Whitehouse, head of The Mortgage Alliance (TMA)
It’s a funny old game but acquisitions, transfers of assets, consolidations and legal wrangles are certainly just some of the parallels offered between the mortgage market and the Premier League. As the drama at Liverpool continues to unfold and the relationship breakdown then making up of Wayne Rooney and Manchester United actually keeps him on the back pages rather than the front, we see these two top stories vie for attention across the vast majority of the sports pages. Of course West Brom’s march up the Premier League too deserves a mention – well at least in my eyes – but for now this is relegated to a few Midlands-based column inches.
Within financial services it seems like Countrywide appears to have taken the mantle as the Manchester City of the industry with some big name signings from the intermediary market and beyond. In terms of takeovers we have the news that LSL Property Services has recently acquired another financial services company. This is good news for the industry in general as it’s important to see some confidence still being placed in the distribution market.
As a mortgage club and a competitor it may be easy to be sceptical about such moves but intermediaries need competition and it’s vital that the distribution channel remains competitive. It also highlights the importance of the choices made by intermediary firms when choosing strategic partners.
In other areas, as a former regular participant in the mortgage markets equivalent of the Champions League, it is a very positive thing to see the buy-to-let market fighting back after some troubled times. It’s also good to see an established former force – maybe somewhere akin to Newcastle – Paragon back in the top flight and let’s hope for everyone’s sake that they continue to make a strong impact. Newcomers such as Aldermore and Precise Mortgages are also making a big impression on the market and have certainly made the buy-to-let market sit up and take note. They have not been unlike the breath of fresh air provided by Blackpool – more in terms of initial impact than size, reputation and potential for survival – and let’s hope they can maintain this great momentum.
In terms of the whole mortgage market and we have the slightly over-officious FIFA, sorry FSA, continuing to overseeing matters and brandishing a record number of red cards to intermediaries for a mix of reckless endangerment and dissent. Indeed the Mortgage Market Review will inevitably place greater emphasis on mortgage distribution which means that the regulator and lenders will require greater confidence in an intermediary firm’s compliance procedures. This illustrates that firms, be they the size of Chelsea through to Wigan, must be increasingly vigilant and proactive in their monitoring and reporting activities whilst having sufficiently robust systems and controls in place.
So all in all whilst I’m sure intermediaries would be over the moon to be earning even close to the lower end of the Premierships ‘stars’ wages, the intermediary market is showing some much needed combination of stability and positivity. But we have to remember that it’s a game of two halves and by giving 110% we might not end up sick as a parrot. And on a final note it’s important to remember that no firm is too good to go down after all amidst challenging conditions we all have to take it one case at a time.
