Welcome to 2018!

By now I think everyone knows my opinion on ‘Change’ – It is good, it is healthy and it is necessary if, society is to continue to progress.

So as is customary, I wanted to start the year by mentioning some of the adjustments we have made within the network and to highlight some of the changes we will see over the coming months.

Process Changes

Overseas Deposits

We have adjusted this process very slightly to better mirror what lenders expect.

It is still necessary to obtain proof of deposit, no matter where your client is from, and we continue to require advisers to have all cases, where the deposit originates in a non-EU country, pre-verified by the compliance team.

The clarification points are: we require 3 months donor bank statements and; donor Identification must be undertaken. The purpose of these changes are to satisfy increasing lender due diligence/know your customer requirements and to demonstrate a clear commitment to reducing money-laundering.

On the face of it, this may seem a little onerous, but when we consider that the purpose of anti-money laundering regulation is to combat crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking and slavery, I think it helps us to become more sympathetic to the ever increasing requirements of lender’s compliance, British/European law and FCA regulation.

For full details of the overseas deposit process, please follow this link.

Sales Process Documents

Although we loved our old ‘flow-chart’ style sales process documents, the time has come to make them more relevant and add further detail in order to reflect the ever changing face of sales within a regulated environment.

For that reason, when you follow the links below, you will notice that we have updated (and added) some sales processes. The purpose is to make it easier for you to reference what is expected of you and to assist in training the advisers within your business.

Residential mortgage processes

Face to Face Residential Mortgage Sales Process
Non-Face to Face Residential Mortgage Sales Process
Face to Face Product Transfer Sales Process
Non-Face to Face Product Transfer Sales Process
Additional Requirement Sales Process
Debt Consolidation

These can be found on the adviser site here.

BTL mortgage processes

Face to Face BTL Mortgage Sales Process
Non-Face to Face BTL Mortgage Sales Process
Debt Consolidation

These can be found on the adviser site here.

Second charge processes

Face to Face Sales Process
Non-Face to Face Sales Process

These can be found on the adviser site here.

 Funeral Plans

Additionally, we have also clarified our process for conducting funeral plan business. Please follow this link for the Golden Charter sales process and this link for the Golden Charter suitability letter.

These can be found on the adviser site here.

Regulatory Changes

The regulator never stands still, therefore, nor do we. What can you expect to see in 2018?

  • Senior Managers and Certification Regime (Probably not until late 2018)
  • Insurance Distribution Directive (February/October 2018)
  • General Data Protection Regime (ICO , not FCA – May 2018)
  • MiFID II (Jan 2018 – This doesn’t directly affect Mortgage and Protection advisers)
  • Payment Services Directive (Jan 2018)

I want to take this opportunity to wish you well for the year ahead and to reassure you that we will continue to work hard behind the scenes to help your business to continue to be safe and profitable through 2018.

Please note: If the old sales processes are showing, please ensure you clear your cache and refresh the page in order to view the new processes.