The timing of this review is coincidental. Its conclusions should inform Treasury ministers' decisions on whether marketing of mortgages should be regulated. There are also plans to make the home buying process easier, faster and more certain. In deciding whether mortgage business should be regulated, it will clearly be important to consider how to avoid conflicting with these objectives. Current safeguards 25.
Some protections are more direct than others.
If there were a regulatory regime for mortgages it should if possible avoid unnecessary overlaps with existing arrangements. The banking and building society Ombudsmen have responsibility for resolving complaints if firms' own disputes procedures have not satisfied customers. The two schemes are slightly different, but both are intended to resolve specific complaints and disputes quickly and without formality. In time the statutory Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme under the FSMB will succeed both schemes, and under it the Ombudsman's decisions will be binding on lenders. Under the Financial Services Act 1986, FSA regulates marketing of, and advice on, investments used as mortgage repayment vehicles.