- 72% of mortgage advisers feel the MMR will be positive for their business
- 34% cited increased admin as their biggest concern post the MMR
- Investing in good technology can be low cost: 72% spent £3,000 or less on tech to prepare for the MMR
A month out from the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) deadline and 91% of mortgage advisers feel they are either prepared or very prepared for the new regulatory requirements, with almost three quarters (72%) believing the changes will be positive for their business, new research from Intelliflo, a leading provider of web-based software for the financial services sector, has found.
Despite the overarching optimism surrounding the reforms, 34% of mortgage advisers listed increasing administrative burdens as their biggest concern post April 26th, with 11% worrying that the MMR will negatively impact sales. Other concerns included an increase in compliance costs (6%) and longer working hours (5%).
Whilst the majority of the MMR’s regulations are aimed at lenders, mortgage advisers will be required to carry out detailed scenario planning and ‘rate shock’ tests to illustrate customer affordability before cases are passed to the lender for approval.
In order to prepare for these new requirements, the survey found the most common changes that mortgage advisers have implemented are to process (20%) and training (28%).
Spending on technology has been relatively low to prepare for the regulations, with 72% of advisers having spent £3,000 or less, and 4% spending up to £10,000. Despite this, 94% of mortgage advisers are confident or very confident that their systems will allow them to evidence compliance post the MMR, illustrating that effective technology in this sector can be low cost.
John Penn, Head of Mortgage Proposition, Intelliflo says:
“The main impact that the MMR will have on mortgage advisers will be the increased need for audit trails and detailed documentation to illustrate that specific checks and conversations with clients have taken place. It therefore makes sense that our survey found advisers’ biggest concern to be around administrative requirements.
The right technology systems can help to alleviate these admin burdens, speeding up processes, improving accuracy and reducing unnecessary duplication. Mortgage advisers who don’t plan to use technology to deal with this increased paperwork run the risk of having to put in extra man hours to ensure profitability doesn’t falter and to maintain the amount of quality face to face time they spend with clients.”
Intelliflo’s MMR research polled 100 mortgage advisers from across the UK to capture attitudes and readiness ahead of the new regulations. Discussion around the full results can be found in Intelliflo’s MMR latest white paper: http://www.intelliflo.com/mortgage-market-review-mmr. Alternatively you can request a copy of the whitepaper by emailing MMR@intelliflo.com
Notes to Editors:
Intelliflo (www.Intelliflo.com) has been providing information technology services to financial services companies since its formation in 2004. Its leading web-based business management software, Intelligent Office, helps financial businesses large and small to improve efficiency and increase profits. Intelligent Office supports over 1,100 firms and 10,500 users with assets under advice of £144 billion (as at 31 December 2013).
In July 2013 HgCapital, a leading European private equity investor in B2B technology companies, became a majority shareholder in Intelliflo Ltd. HgCapital has a wealth of expertise in developing web-based software businesses and is committed to supporting the next phase of Intelliflo’s growth.
Intelliflo has won the Professional Adviser ‘Best Technology/Software Provider’ award, voted for by Financial Advisers, every year since 2010.
For further information please contact:
Jo Gilbey
Marketing Director
Intelliflo
Tel: +44 (0)208 481 1111
jo.gilbey@intelliflo.com
Sophie Placido
Consultant
Rostrum Communications
0207 440 8678
Sophie@rostrumpr.com
