FSA warns brokers after latest ban

The FSA today fired a fresh warning shot at fraudulent mortgage brokers after banning yet another adviser.

Tower Hamlets-based broker Zia Chowdhury was found guilty by the regulator of certifying client identities for fraudulent applications.

He was also found to have operated his firm, Express Financial, without being approved by the FSA as required.

"Our crackdown on mortgage fraud is gathering pace - we have banned more than 40 mortgage brokers over the last two years, and we will continue to ban people who become involved in mortgage fraud, in order to stamp out this behaviour," FSA head of retail enforcement Jonathan Phelan says.

The regulator found Chowdhury certified client identity documents accompanying five fraudulent mortgage applications as true copies of the originals without seeing the original documents or meeting the clients.

According to the FSA, he also submitted mortgage applications "in circumstances in which he must have suspected that false information might have been used or that the individuals who referred the applications might be involved in mortgage fraud".

jamie.obertelli@incisivemedia.com