Advocacy for mortgage advisers is one of its key priorities
The Finance and Mortgage Advisers Association of New Zealand (FAMNZ) has offered an update on its activities in New Zealand, and said it would be focusing strongly on education and advocacy.
Peter White (pictured), FAMNZ managing director, noted the importance of education in the advice space – particularly ensuring that mortgage advisers are up to date with what’s happening with regulation and credit policy, as well as governance and compliance.
FAMNZ has a strategic arrangement with Kaplan RTO that offers discounted education to members, which White encouraged members to make use of.
“We’ve been asked about AML/CTF courses, and they have a great broker-centric and broker-facing course rather than a lender’s course,” White told advisers in an update webinar. “That’s something to be aware of that’s available.”
FAMNZ has also built a regulatory engagement group, which intends to “deepen FAMNZ’s footprint” into what’s happening in the regulatory and political arena. This includes advocating for a regulatory framework that makes sense for mortgage advisers in New Zealand – something White said regulators like the Commerce Commission sometimes fail to pin down.
White is the founder of the International Mortgage Brokers Federation (IMBF) – a global forum which aims to tackle some of the key issues facing mortgage brokers on a wider scale. New Zealand is one of eight participating countries in this forum, and White says this all aims to give advisers a stronger voice.
“We want to make sure we can get ahead of the game with what’s going on,” White said.
“All these things are about being in front of the conversations that are being had at a political and regulatory point, and to ensure that if things are coming up, we are well prepared and well armed to speak back to these matters - not in a reactive manner, but in a proactive manner.
“Together with my engagement face to face in New Zealand, we’ll be looking after that political advocacy role to ensure that the right outcomes are happening for everyone here.”
Mortgage advisers have already pushed back on some of the Commerce Commission’s proposals last year – notably, its suggestion that advisers should be presenting clients with at least three bank offers. White says that part of the issue is in regulators drawing too much from Australia’s framework, which isn’t going to work for New Zealand.
“Quite often you’ll find regulatory and political framing is not necessarily what’s right for the industry, and it’s not necessarily that they understand the industry at all,” White said.
“There have been some recent pieces that came out of the Commerce Commission where they were talking back to the Australian model, and they actually had it fundamentally wrong. We stepped in and corrected that, which is part of why we do what we do.”
Looking ahead, White says the focus for FAMNZ will be speeding up the things that need to be done and correcting things that aren’t framed in the right way.
“Australia is further down the path in terms of mortgage advice, and there are lots of things that we can learn from each other,” White said.
“But there’s an opportunity there to make sure we get the right outcome that’s the most suitable for mortgage advisers here in New Zealand.”
