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By: Jessica Darnbrough
Advantedge has said it “actively supports” the broker transition to 'adviser'.
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Speaking at a roundtable conference yesterday, Advantedge’s general manager distribution broker platforms and lending Steve Weston said with regulation imminent and educational obligations already being imposed, brokers should start to see themselves as advisers.
“Professional mortgage brokers are advisers. They advise their customers as to the best products and services for their needs. Choice and advice is really the backbone of the broker proposition,” Mr Weston told The Adviser.
While the transition from broker to adviser could ultimately result in industry consolidation, Mr Weston this would serve to benefit the industry as a whole.
“I believe licensing and the flight to ‘advice’ will result in 20 per cent consolidation in the industry. That said, those 20 per cent write less than 5 per cent of the business, so the impact on the industry will not be dramatic,” he said.
With licensing set to take full effect from 1 January 2011, providing customers with credit advice will soon become a staple of the broker proposition.
Mr Weston said customers will demand more advice from their broker once they realise that they are licensed to do so.
“That’s why customers go to brokers, because they want advice. If they just wanted a product they would go to their bank direct,” Mr Weston said.
