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A call for brokers to be degree-qualified to lift professional standards has been overwhelmingly rejected by those in the industry.
In September, the Consumer Credit Legal Service WA petitioned the current Murray Inquiry calling for mortgage brokers to hold degrees as they believe present educational standards were “manifestly inadequate”.
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However, a poll conducted by The Adviser found that 69 per cent of brokers believed the current standard – either a Certificate IV in Finance and Mortgage Broking or a Diploma of Finance and Broking Management – was sufficient.
Only 17 per cent believed brokers needed to hold a degree, while 14 per cent said that nothing beats on-the-job experience.
One broker agitating for better educational standards is Bruce Mawson, principal of Mawson Professional Lending in Brisbane and a former director of the MFAA.
Mr Mawson agreed the minimum requirement to become a broker should be a diploma but added: “Having said that, I’d love to see a degree course available, which would allow practitioners to elevate themselves to a higher standard.” he said.
Mr Mawson thinks the MFAA should introduce a tertiary degree as an option to brokers, rather than making it a compulsory standard.
“I’d love to be the broker out there with a degree to compete against any other broker, and I think it would give me a far greater opportunity to write higher volumes.”
Michael Russell, chief executive of Mortgage Choice, does not believe that mandating university degrees will be a silver bullet to delivering mortgage holders with a better customer experience.
“Our peak industry body – the MFAA – has already raised the minimum educational requirement to a diploma level, notwithstanding the fact that the current legislation only requires a Cert IV, and I believe this is more than adequate for the foreseeable future,” he said.
“From my experience, I have never seen any correlation between poor customer experience, advice and the education level of the mortgage broker – it's almost always the result of operational tardiness or failure to follow proper processes.”
Outsource Financial CEO Tanya Sale told The Adviser that it would be wrong to describe the current broking qualifications as inadequate.
“At the moment, Cert IV is the minimum requirement for ASIC, which is fine,” she said.
“The components for the Cert IV are much more in-depth and educational than when it was first introduced.”
[Related: Parliament told broker education is ‘manifestly inadequate’]
The issue of broker education standards will be explored in greater detail in December’s issue of The Adviser magazine
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