CML welcomes delayed publication of crucial FSA mortgage consultation paper

Thursday, 23 June 2011 3:19 PM

CML WELCOMES DELAYED PUBLICATION OF CRUCIAL FSA MORTGAGE CONSULTATION PAPER

The Council of Mortgage Lenders welcomes today's announcement by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that it will delay until early autumn publication of its next mortgage market review consultation paper. It is no surprise that such a large and complex piece of work, which needs to contain a full cost-benefit and impact analysis of the FSA’s proposals, may take longer to complete than originally expected.

The CML agrees with the FSA that the analysis required to allow an informed debate on the issues needs to be of the highest quality and clearly presented

Taking sufficient time needed to fulfil these objectives will not only allow the FSA to produce a comprehensive paper, but one that may be better integrated with the proposed European directive on responsible lending and borrowing. Potentially, this could help avoid possible conflict and wasted work in implementing two different sets of regulatory measures in quick succession. If so, a more streamlined implementation of regulatory reform could lead to a considerable cost saving for UK firms and consumers.

Commenting on the FSA’s announcement, CML director general Michael Coogan said:

"We are pleased that the FSA wants to take time to get it right. The regulator has already indicated that it will be cautious about implementing change while the mortgage market recovers. The current muted state of the market presents no regulatory threat, so there is no need to rush.

“We now look forward to continuing to work with the FSA (and its successors the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority) to implement the right sort of regulatory reform for the mortgage market."

NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Council of Mortgage Lenders' members are banks, building societies and other lenders who together undertake around 94% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK. There are 11.3 million mortgages in the UK, with loans worth over £1.2 trillion.

2. Lord Turner's full speech can be found on the FSA website.

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