I told you this would happen!

So we now know that the FSA will be scraped in 2012 and as an industry the Mortgage market will have a new regulator and this time it will have the word ‘Consumer’ in the title.

So what will this mean for mortgage brokers? Well firstly I suggest you look at my blog of the 26th May "New Government, New Regulator" where I predicted the demise of the FSA and the rise of the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority.

This is the new authority that will regulate all authorised firms. The Government is at least doing what it said it would back in July 2009.

In essence there will be a lot of talk, discussion and I am sure consultation but the focus for the regulator will be the same.

It boils down to professional business practice with qualified and competent intermediaries providing good unbiased advice.

The outcome that the new regulator will want is ‘The fair treatment of consumers’ nothing changes!

The people will probably transfer over from the FSA to run it.

So, is there any good news?

Well the cost of this new regulator is going to be funded by the consumer I understand.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out in reality it would be good if we did have regulation without cost but the costs will be incurred by any procedural changes that are required and the time brokers will have to spend ensuring that they comply with any new regulatory framework.

Also, given that the name will change but the personalities will not I can’t see the regulator being any less intrusive and demanding after 2012.