Mortgage Broker

MortgageBroker mbabc.ca winter 2015 | 9 report from the CEO The MBABC ACCoMplished a great deal in 2014. We tackled many issues affecting brokers and lenders. Some of these issues will continue to unfold into 2015. New anti-spam rules hit mortgage brokers and other businesses hard last year. We took a thorough review of the new rules and provided several courses on how brokers can comply. e new rules are costly and cumbersome for brokers to implement while doing little to curtail real spam from invading our email inboxes. Anti-spam rules place limits on commercial speech, which is a constitutionally enshrined fundamental freedom in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. e spam reduction goals of the new rules could have been accomplished easily with more restrained legislation which focusses on spam and not legitimate commercial messages. is overreaching may very well render this torturous legislation unconstitutional. We will certainly look for any Charter challenges to the rules in 2015. Last year saw the regulatory and legal stage underpinning the mortgage lending industry set to change. e plan is to replace the BC Securities Act and the BC Securities Commission with a harmonized securities regulator (acting on behalf of five provinces) and new legislation. Securities offences that are currently established by the criminal code will be moved into the Capital Markets Stability Act. Redefining these offences and enabling a single cooperative regulator to prosecute them is a modernized approach that reflects a new focus on systemic risk. Each of the five provinces, including British Columbia, will enact a Provincial Capital Markets Act ( PCMA) that will replace provincial securities legislation. e MBABC completed a review of the new legislation and provided comments to government – go to page 28 for a discussion of our review. e good news is that the PCMA clearly leaves room for the B.C. government to tailor requirements and exemptions to regulate and support B.C.'s unique private lending industry. is leaves much work for us in 2015! We all know that the interests of mortgage brokers are inextricably entwined with those of mortgage lenders, and to ensure our industry remains healthy and competitive we need to be poised for change on the lending front. We will endeavour to be proactive by looking at ways in which the industry can strengthen itself through the creation of standards and best practices prior to regulation being solidified and continue to advocate for regulation which balances public protection, the B.C. economy and a vibrant lending industry. Last year we also met with representatives from the B.C. government, FICOM and the MBRCC to discuss a myriad of mortgage broker issues ranging from licensing exemptions, education standards, license jurisdiction hopping, mortgage broker fees and unregistered activity. In 2015 we will continue our dialogue with regulators and government on important issues in the mortgage broker industry and pursue industry change with the Mortgage Brokers Act review, once that is resumed. We have an exciting conference planned for February, which you will not want to miss! Come and celebrate 25 years of the silver screen at the MBABC's silver anniversary on February 23 and 24. See you there! • The regulatory and legal stage underpinning the mortgage lending industry is set to change Samantha Gale CEO MBABC & MBIBC samanthagale @ mbabc.ca We all know that the interests of mortgage brokers are inextricably entwined with those of mortgage lenders, and to ensure our industry remains healthy and competitive we need to be poised for change on the lending front.

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