Mortgage Broker Industry Council Update

Summary of activities since November 2021 from Clarence Lee, Chair

The culmination of 2021 and the first few months of 2022 have been a productive time for RECA and the Mortgage Broker Industry Council.

But firstly, I’d like to take the opportunity to re-introduce you to the newly elected Vice-Chair of our Industry Council, Paul Bojakli. Paul is a licensee-elected member of the Industry Council and is the Industry Council representative on the RECA Board of Directors. Paul was elected Vice-Chair of the Industry Council at our December 2021 meeting.

Competency Profiles Complete

We are pleased to announce that, after much consultation with all stakeholders, the mortgage associate and mortgage broker competency profiles have now been approved for use by third-party course providers.

Mortgage licensees must have many competencies to operate competently, professionally, and in the public interest, and the method to identify and document these requirements was a collaborative and detailed process. We could not have done it without the feedback and validation from mortgage licensees, and I sincerely thank you for your input. Moving forward, the existence of these competencies will ensure new licensees are competent, work-ready mortgage licensees.

Education Divestment

Divestment of RECA licensing education for all industries, including mortgage, continues to be on track for June 1, 2022. I know many brokers out there are curious about how they will go about having new associates join their brokerage during this time of education transition. Until the divestment of education is complete, the current pre-licensing education prescribed by RECA and offered by RECA and AMBA continues to be in effect. After divestment of education delivery is complete, RECA will retain our processes for licensee examinations. The exams will be based on the same competencies used by third-party course providers to create their courses. For more information, see the pre-licensing information on reca.ca.

Strategic Planning

RECA opened submissions for licensees to submit feedback on our strategic direction from November to January. We also received comprehensive feedback from trade associations, including AMBA, and we hosted online broker forums in November. This, along with consumer feedback, will inform the Industry Council and the Board on the issues that matter most to our stakeholders. We sincerely appreciate all the mortgage licensees who took the time to participate, with a special thanks to AMBA for their extensive and thoughtful feedback.

I also want to extend a special thank you to the brokers who attended the broker forums in November 2021, and to the host, Gary Siegle, RECA’s Mortgage Regulatory Compliance Advisor, and longtime broker himself. The conversations were excellent, and I look forward to future, similar engagement opportunities. It was great to see our industry become so engaged in the self-regulation process.

The Board is responsible for RECA’s strategic direction, however, the Industry Councils provide extensive feedback to the Board on our respective industries to aid the process, including a full-day strategic planning session for all Board and Industry Council members that occurred on February 14. The goal of that meeting, and future meetings, is to create a robust, multi-year strategic plan for all industries RECA oversees, including the mortgage sector. The Industry Council will make sure all mortgage industry feedback is heard by the Board in their upcoming strategic planning sessions.

Upcoming Stakeholder Engagement

RECA has plans for additional stakeholder engagement sessions this Spring in April/May. Stay tuned for more information on how to participate.