AMI hits out at FSA's fee hike

12 February 2010 4:33 pm | By Paul Thomas

According to AMI’s calculations, a firm with a turnover of £500k will have to pay a 32 per cent increase on their fees from last year, while a firm with a turnover of £5m will see an 87 per cent increase.

AMI director Robert Sinclair says that the FSA are laying the blame on mortgage intermediaries for the banking crisis and says he cannot see why fees need to be increased when the sector has shrunk so much.

He says: “In responding to the Banking crisis, the FSA appears to be laying the blame most closely at the door of the mortgage intermediaries. We are struggling to identify the need for a 33 per cent increase in costs for a sector that has shrunk to a fraction of its previous size. It was not the intermediary world that caused this crisis, but we appear to be picking up the tab.”

Sinclair adds that the proportion of the FSA’s overall funding requirement the intermediary sector accounts for is too much considering it does not present the same risks as the banking and wholesale sector.

He says: “The intermediary sector now accounts for almost one fifth of the regulator’s overall funding requirement. This is not proportionate as the intermediary sector does not present the same risks as the Banking and Wholesale sectors. It is time for a root and branch review of the regulator’s costs which tackles the issue of who foots the bill.

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