COMPLIANCE UPDATES

You may have heard a lot about lender and provider fair value statements, some lenders may also have sent those to you, and you are wondering what you need to do with them. You will be pleased to hear that it is the responsibility of the Network to review these for the lenders we have

We are just a few weeks from the final implementation date for Consumer Duty. Over the next few weeks, I will be sending you regular Consumer Duty emails, like this one, covering some of the updates the Network has made in readiness for meeting the Consumer Duty. The Duty introduces new rules and guidance to

To improve our compliance process and to allow cases to progress quicker, we have decided that for advisers working towards CAS status, we no longer require cases to be submitted to Compliance for Pre-DIP checks. Compliance will instead check cases at the pre-application stage for those who have not yet received Competent Adviser Status (CAS).

Unfortunately, we have seen an alarming increase in mortgage fraud recently, particularly relating to income fraud. A number of cases have been presented that advisers may have prevented with better due diligence. Staged income is one area we have seen an increase. For example, a customer has got a recent wage rise which is quite

In order to help combat financial crime and to reduce the number of fraudulent applications HSBC has seen in the industry lately, we have agreed with them to make their fraud training webinars, which are being hosted just for Connect IFA advisers, mandatory for all staff with agencies with HSBC. Whilst being mandatory for advisers, this

Since joining Connect, I have been thinking about how we can improve on what we do currently within the Compliance department to further support our Network of AR’s. I have been looking at the Broker journey from training to achieving Competent Adviser Status (CAS) and have decided that we can do things a little differently

I am pleased to introduce everyone to Alan Baldwin, who has joined Connect as our new Director of Compliance. Alan has many years of experience in compliance, holding senior positions at both lenders and brokerages and is an excellent addition to the Connect leadership team at a time when compliance matters have never been higher

As the main controller of the Appointed Representative firm with Connect IFA Ltd, I am writing to let you know we now need you to complete the below form to provide us with the additional data we require for the FCA Section 165 data request. This information is needed no later than the 31st of