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In an effort to highlight the value of the third-party channel, the MFAA has met with a well-known finance journalist who recently rubbished the mortgage broking profession and labelled it "one of the last bastions of unethical sales practices".
In a column published last month by The Australian Financial Review, Tony Boyd wrote that while mortgage brokers have worked hard in recent years to lift the industry’s professional standards, particularly through the MFAA, “its standards continue to lag those being imposed on other sectors including financial planners”.
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Mr Boyd has also previously labelled mortgage broking "one of the last bastions of unethical sales practices".
The MFAA said it was pleased to follow up on its commitment to the industry by meeting with Mr Boyd to help educate him about the broking channel.
“He was willing to sit down with the MFAA to find out more about the data that supports our consumer advantages,” the association said in a statement.
“He admitted that he was not fully across the operations of the industry and was willing to engage to get a better grasp of it.”
The MFAA said it has also supplied its data reports and information to the AFR which show broker numbers and revenues, as well as the continuous growth of the third-party channel’s mortgage market share.
“As discussed at the AFG broker days, the industry has to improve its ability to get this message across to media so that the consumer benefits of a broker’s interaction are more clearly understood,” Stephen Hale, head of marketing at the MFAA, said.
“Mr Boyd was impressed that we could produce real data to support these claims – MFAA data – rather than random opinions that are not generally respected by the media.
“He said that he had a different view, thinking that our industry was primarily a referral-driven operation, and noted that these growth figures showed that we are delivering a better option for consumers.”
The MFAA said Mr Boyd has agreed to keep the lines of communication open for other stories and consult the association prior to further publications.
This is not the first time that one of the industry’s peak bodies has taken issue with Mr Boyd’s commentary on the third-party channel.
Last month, the FBAA slammed Mr Boyd’s claim that brokers were receiving excessive broker commissions and said it was concerned that this type of “unbalanced" news reporting could also have serious implications for ASIC’s review into remuneration structures in the third-party channel.
[Related: FBAA defends brokers against negative media coverage]
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