Both Scottish Life Mortgages and Britannic Money have last week announced job losses at their respective mortgage operations by around 200. The reasons given are generally to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Our view
Part of this, we believe, is also to do with the fact that mortgages are soon to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority and will face similar strict codes of conduct, rules and authorisation fees that Financial Advisers and Investment Companies have to adhere to.
Expect more job cuts in the mortgage market as the realisation and costs of compliance with regulation hits home.