In our November/ December issue, we dived headfirst into the thorny topic of a qualification or course in specialist property finance. Amid the debate, the prospect of a tiered procuration fee system was raised. In one suggested iteration, introducers who had a higher level of involvement (the requisite level, some might argue) in a deal— and typically more skill and experience—would be paid the higher amount in the fee range. Similarly, a broker whose lead is simply a name and number for a lender to take forward, or who does not display the necessary ‘credentials’ to fulfil the requirements of the transaction, would be paid less, commensurate with the effort expended or the stake they had in it. This is not an altogether foreign concept, considering the role of packagers to whom less experienced brokers are supposed to refer business that is out of their depth (and which also earns them a smaller fee, but a happy client).
As I am not a broker, I decided to float this idea with a group of them. Towards the end of January, Adele Turton, managing director at Blanc Property Finance; Shaz Ahmed, property finance specialist at GPS Financial; Martyn Pollock, director at Hallcroft Finance; Meir Peer, founder and managing director at Redi Finance; Amar Dhanota, co-founder and specialist adviser at London FS; and Andrew Gage, co-founder of Ngage Finance joined me to deliberate the pros and cons that such a system could present. Of course, it’s imperative that we follow this up with feedback from lenders— and I cannot wait to hear it. But, by breaking down the conversation, I hope it comes across as more digestible and that the thoughts of various stakeholders can be afforded adequate space to air their views on this important and interesting topic. As always, we begin by discussing standards in our sector…