AMI criticises FCA's 'opaque' approach to fees after 14.8% AR levy on networks

Following the FCA's second fees consultation, the AMI has criticised the "repeat of the five week consultation period, which remains the shortest in memory".

In a statement, the AMI highlights a 14.8% increase in the Appointed Representative levy on networks "which is not mentioned in the narrative, but hidden in the rules".

It also criticised the decision to make firms pay for the FCA’s National Insurance increases "by passing it all on in fees with no consideration of prioritisation that AMI firms have to go through".

The consultation also outlined plans to charge mortgage brokers for the new work on Cryptocurrency which the AMI says is due to brokers being "obliquely captured under some Money Laundering requirements".

Robert Sinclair, chief executive of AMI, said: “I am infuriated by the arrogance of this new fees consultation. The impossibility for anyone to hold the FCA to account is becoming damaging to the industry.

"Surcharging networks a further 14.8% on Appointed Representatives, for issues that exist in other markets, continues to cause us significant concern.

"The assumption that mortgage broker customers can find the money to pay for the process to review and authorise Cryptocurrency firms displays a total lack of appreciation of the thin margins that most brokers operate under.

"The senior team at the FCA have said they hope to have the time to engage more with the industry later in 2022 than they have been able to do during the Covid crisis. It is to be hoped that there is enough of an industry left by then, as the increasing regulatory cost burden makes this a less attractive place to be.

"It is death by a thousand cuts, with increasing FOS fees, FSCS costs, Consumer Duty and the raw cost of the FCA activity and fees. Good firms cannot just keep having an escalating bill.”