Conor Murphy, Director, Capricorn Financial Consultancy

myi: Do you think the market is much better today than it was 3 years ago?

It has definitely improved overall. Market sentiment in general is stronger, the traditional lenders appear to be keener for business and are competing for it once again and there have been a few new entrants to the market. Some areas though– i.e. first time buyers, impaired credit, new build etc – are still very tight and in many ways worse than they were, so it is not all good news

myi: Do you see any new products entering the market?

I cannot see any new products on the horizon. However, a number of lenders are willing to take a more rounded view of the underwriting process once again so hopefully this will lead to more ‘common-sense’ lending decisions and less of the ‘computer says no’ mentality, which has prevailed over the past few years.

myi: You have been instrumental in the development of Intellicalc as a way of helping estate agents increase sales and driving clients needing mortgages to you – do you believe this is the way forward for brokers and agents?

I believe that an outsourced approach to the estate agency-financial adviser relationship is the way forward. Agents do like their applicants to be qualified financially these days, so a close agent-broker relationship makes sense. However, applicants also like the independence of knowing the broker is actually working for them and not the agent.

Crucially too it is hard in the current market to generate sufficient business from one agent, to justify having a broker based in the office and a slick out-sourced solution makes more sense all round.

myi: How does being part of a network help your business – are there long term benefits or is it more about the current mortgage environment?

It gives it stability and gives you credibility in the eyes of the consumer. It helps from a regulatory point of view and I think whoever ends up as the long term regulator of the industry will prefer to just have to regulate a few large firms, rather than lots of little ones.

It gives you clout with the lenders, both from the point of view of products and exclusives, commissions and also preferred distribution- i.e insisting on adviser distribution rather than purely branch distribution, specifically in a downturn.

myi: Are there any signs that either mortgage lenders or the Government are going to take steps to re-invigorate the market?

Both appear keen to do so in different ways. Lenders are tentatively improving options at higher LTVs which increases gross lending volumes. The Government is showing intent by backing schemes such as the new ‘Homebuy’ deal with housing developers.

Much more could still be done for both. The question then is, if both parties feel that lots of the harm in the credit crunch was caused by over-aggressive lending practices, how willing will then be to do this again and how willing should everyone be for them to do it?

myi: What steps should the financial services sector be taking to re-build trust and confidence amongst consumers?

Again lots is being done, such as the compensation being paid our on endowments and other mis-sold financial products and more recently PPI. Financial services is actually one of the most tightly regulated industries in the country and the regulations are very heavily weighted in favour of the consumer- as they should be.

One of the problems here could be a lack of publicity surrounding the measures that are in place to protect the consumer. Even the PPI scandal could have been portrayed in a positive light as the banks effectively agreeing to punish themselves at great financial cost, whereas it ended up coming across as yet another example of unscrupulous practices in the financial arena.

myi: Capricorn has shown substantial growth in a static market – how have you achieved that?

By recognising which way the market was heading and adapting accordingly. The days of easy business, self-certification and low regulation disappeared in 2007-08 and along with it the need for advisers who could only deliver in this area.

There is still a need for high quality face to face financial advice from expert, trustworthy advisers and we have focused heavily on this. By positioning ourselves close to the source of this business- i.e. to estate agents who are still selling property in good areas, where you still get first time buyers etc. We have been able to grow whilst the industry as a whole has shrunk.

The market is definitely tougher than it used to be and you do need to work harder for your business and deliver A1 service for your clients, but in my opinion this is how it should always have been anyway.