The chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has hit out at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) over its failure to launch an individual registration scheme for mortgage advisers.
As part of its Mortgage Market Review (MMR), the FSA had announced plans to extend its approved persons regime to include all those who advise or sell mortgages.
However, the changes, which would have required all advisers and branch staff to take a 'fit and proper' test, have been delayed indefinitely.
The FSA said IT problems associated with the FSA's impending split into the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority were the reason behind its decision.
But Robert Sinclair (pictured), CEO of the AMI, said the regulator's failure to implement the registration system represented the "ultimate disgrace" considering it had only recently completed its wide-ranging MMR.
"The failure of the regulator to step up to the plate and deliver on this is the ultimate disgrace in terms of the review," Sinclair, speaking at the Tenet conference in London, said.
"[The FSA] asked for our views, we gave it our views and then it said it couldn't deliver because it has IT problems.
"Any regulated business which told the regulator they had IT problems would get short shrift. The fact they can say that while taking in fees is fundamentally wrong."
Sinclair said his organisation - alongside the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association and Building Societies Association - would work on a viable solution, but that it would take at least a year.
