Paradigm Mortgage Services has launched its latest Mortgage Market Review (MMR) update for advisory firms.
This latest document – the eighth in a series of regulatory updates on the impending new rules and regulations – outlines the key compliance responsibilities that adviser firms must have in place when the MMR begins on 26 April.
Firms and all employees must be fully aware of the key MMR measures and their response to them including knowing what the firms’ execution-only policy is, signing off new advisers as competent, applying for any new permissions, understanding the nature of ‘vulnerable clients’, and how they will approach their disclosure documentation.
The latest MMR update also includes Paradigm’s MMR Lender Matrix which allows advisers to easily review lender changes for MMR and update their own criteria amendments. The Matrix provides a continually updated guide to show the changes each lender has made. It also includes links to each lender’s affordability calculator, lending criteria and (where appropriate) their MMR update page alongside information such as the date when they will be MMR compliant.
The update (along with all the others in the series) is available at Paradigm’s MMR website page:
Bob Hunt, chief executive of Paradigm Mortgage Services, said: “Even though we are just under a few weeks away from the MMR implementation date it will not have escaped advisers’ notice that many lenders are switching their systems and processes on early.
“Our latest MMR update recognises this and provides advisers with a range of useful information about their own MMR responsibilities and links to lender changes. The lender matrix will continue to be updated up to the 26th April and beyond because we fully anticipate further changes and tweaks to be made by lenders as they get to grips with the new rules and they see how they work in a practical environment.
“While many lenders have been slowly introducing these changes over a period of time we still believe there will be ongoing interpretation changes and therefore the way they approach MMR will also change over time. This means MMR does not simply begin and end on the 26th but it is likely to be a ‘moveable feast’ – Paradigm will therefore continue to offer advisers access to a range of relevant information and support that can help them come to terms with the biggest regulatory changes to the market since ‘Mortgage Day’.”