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The head of the FBAA has been elected as the chair of a recently established cross-border organisation aimed at fostering greater collaboration between brokers from different countries.
The International Mortgage Brokers Federation (IMBF) has appointed Peter White, the managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), as the chair of its board of governors.
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The IMBF was launched in Canada in October last year by the FBAA and the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association (CMBA) to help influence regulation and legislation through global advocacy.
Canadian broker Janet McKeough from Success Mortgages, who is involved in the federation, previously told The Adviser that “governments need to understand products offered by the financial institutions direct to their clients [are] significantly more harmful to consumers, [such as] credit cards without income confirmation or qualification, unsecured lines of credit being automatic when mortgages are funded, and collateral charges without full and proper disclosure.”
During the time of its launch, the FBAA managing director, who played a significant role in the establishment of the federation said: “I was doing the FBAA’s global research paper in 2016 after discovering that Canada was also looking at establishing a collaborative international group of finance brokers.
“One of the catalysts for creating the federation was the realisation that finance regulators in each country had been talking to each other and sharing knowledge and regulatory outcomes, and we felt we would benefit tremendously by doing the same thing.
“We worked with the CMBA to form the IMBF on a platform of sharing ideas, referring clients, gathering market intelligence, identifying trends, and keeping up to date on regulatory matters and industry best practices.”
Mr White reiterated the collaborative purpose of the federation – which comprises members from Australia, Canada, the US, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the UK, with members from other European and Asian nations expected to join – further claiming that the IMBF has already made an impact.
“The IMBF has already proven its worth in the FBAA response to the banking royal commission. The commission was told by a major bank that the Netherlands broker model should be implemented here,” the FBAA managing director said.
“Our colleagues in the Netherlands quickly explained the failures of that model and our resulting submission saw both sides of politics, and the commission itself, reject the idea.”
To keep members informed, Mr White said the federation also discusses “property markets, economies, regulations, global codes of conduct, rules of ethics, data research and best practice”.
The other purpose of the IMBF is to act as a “global referral network” should broker clients move abroad.
[Related: International Mortgage Brokers Federation launches]
