Recommendation 1.2 – Best interests duty
The law should be amended to provide that, when acting in connection with home lending, mortgage brokers must act in the best interests of the intending borrower. The obligation should be a civil penalty provision.
Recommendation 1.3 – Mortgage broker remuneration
The borrower, not the lender, should pay the mortgage broker a fee for acting in connection with home lending.
Changes in brokers’ remuneration should be made over a period of two or three years, by first prohibiting lenders from paying trail commission to mortgage brokers in respect of new loans, then prohibiting lenders from paying other commissions to mortgage brokers.
Recommendation 1.4 – Establishment of working group
A Treasury-led working group should be established to monitor and, if necessary, adjust the remuneration model referred to in Recommendation 1.3, and any fee that lenders should be required to charge to achieve a level playing field, in response to market changes.
Recommendation 1.5 – Mortgage brokers as financial advisers
After a sufficient period of transition, mortgage brokers should be subject to and regulated by the law that applies to entities providing financial product advice to retail clients.
Recommendation 1.6 – Misconduct by mortgage brokers
ACL holders should:
- be bound by information–sharing and reporting obligations in respect of mortgage brokers similar to those referred to in Recommendations 2.7 and 2.8 for financial advisers; and
- take the same steps in response to detecting misconduct of a mortgage broker as those referred to in Recommendation 2.9 for financial advisers