FSA fines and censures mortgage brokers over fraud

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned one mortgage broker and fined another for failing to prevent false mortgage applications being made to lenders.

The FSA banned Harrow-based Ngozika Louise Ogboru of JN Finance for failing to prevent staff from using her business to submit false mortgage applications. One employee was still using Ogboru’s passwords to apply for false home loans five months after she had left JN Finance, according to the regulator.

‘Ogboru continued to run the business in the same irresponsible way, despite obvious warning signs that JN Finance was being used to commit mortgage fraud,’ stated the FSA. Ogboru would have been fined £65,000 but this was waived on the grounds that it would cause serious financial hardship.

The FSA fined Ronald Winton of Dundee-based Mortgage Healthcare £31,500 for not taking control of a broking business which he left under the management of two non-approved advisers.

The FSA identified concerns about the level of interest-only mortgages being arranged by the two advisers but Winton did not take any action. After investigating, the regulator found problems with the suitability of the advice given to customers and the firm's complaints handling procedures.

Winton has also been banned from holding a senior position in the financial services sector for two years.

Margaret Cole, FSA director of enforcement and financial crime said: ‘FSA rules ensure that financial services firms operate safely, protecting both their customers and the industry itself. Anyone found flouting those rules will face stiff penalties.'

‘Ogboru and Winton were not of sufficient calibre to run their firms to the standards expected by the FSA, and as such have either been removed from the industry or prevented from holding senior positions.’