The panel of lenders at yesterday's AOBP Forum debated the existence of 'gaming' in today's market- When potentially regulated applications are passed off as non-regulated. The discussion saw the panel split in opinion…

Jonathan Sealey, CEO of Hope Capital said: “It does happen…I have found since we started the company four years ago…there has been an increase in this gaming”.

“We do see a lot of different deals come in from brokers and from clients direct where they would say they don’t live there, yet, we find out they do.”

On the topic of mitigating risk, Jonathan stressed that due diligence is vital, as well as keeping solicitors in the loop and ensuring everything is assessed thoroughly.

Gavin Diamond, Head of Underwriting at United Trust Bank, however, believed that the practice of gaming isn’t on the rise.

“I don’t believe we have seen any sort of obvious sign of an increase in this gaming”, he stated, adding that he had never even heard of the phrase before.

“Naturally, if we ever felt that there was a potential risk on any particular deal, that it may be regulated in some way shape or form, well, as a regulated lender we would just go down the route of doing it as a regulated deal, if we couldn’t get comfortable if it wasn’t a regulated deal.”

Gavin concluded: “I think there is a large emphasis on brokers to present the deal as accurately as they can, and I think if they feel that there is any cause for concern, they should be highlighting that both to the customer as well as to the lender.”

When put to a vote, the audience in majority backed Jonathan's response.