A freedom of information (FOI) put in to the FCA in November by Paul Day of Network Consulting Services indicates a signifcant fall in directly authorised mortgage advisers over the last four years.
The questions Day sent to the FCA included how many applications for firms to become DA to intermediate for each of the following permissions (investment and pensions; mortgages & home finance; and consumer credit & insurance) have been approved for each of the past five years.
The response relating specifically to mortgages and home finance, showed a steady drop from 442 in 2020 to just 132 in 2024.
A further question Day sent to the FCA was ‘what is the total number of current individual intermediaries that can advise on mortgages (included CPD20 & CPD21)?’
The response was that the total number of individuals holding active CPD20 – Advising or arranging regulated mortgage contracts and/or active CPD21 – Advising or arranging equity release transactions involvements across all authorised firms stands at 35,263 for 2024 (data at 14 January 2025.
Compared over a six-year period this number for 2024 also shows a marked decrease, particularly over one year with adviser numbers of 36,836 for 2023. Prior to this numbers had been relatively steady at 36,441 for 2022; 36,211 for 2021 and 36,377 for 2020.
FCA underlying data for 2024 is due to be released in August 2025)
Commenting on the figures Day said: “We’ve seen a relatively stable number of mortgage advisers across all sectors of the industry including both DA and AR’s between 2019 and 2023.
“However, there was a notable drop from 2023 to 2024 of 4.3%. Given that the number of advisers within networks (appointed representatives) has been stable over the past three years, it is fair to assume that this drop could be attributed more to the directly authorised space.
DA numbers
Looking at the number of new firm applications for direct authorisation over the last five years, Day said its was evident that there had been notable year-on-year decline in mortgage & protection firms seeking direct authorisation. Indeed last year, there was less than 30% new firms apply to go DA than there was in 2020.
“There will be a number of contributory factors for this, but I suspect the two main factors have been the introduction of Consumer Duty and the changes to the application process, making it a more arduous process than it has been previously.
“This is an educated guess but we’d need to speak with all the would-be DA’s that have put the move off to understand this fully.”
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