One More Thing:The spat between Permanent TSB, the banking arm of Irish Life & Permanent, and its mortgage brokers over plans to shave commissions on home loans looks set to heat up in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday, Diarmuid Kelly, chief executive of the Professional Brokers Insurance Association (PIBA), sent a note to members urging them not to attend information meetings that began this week to outline how the changes will work.
"We would reiterate our request that all members do not attend these IL&P forums and instead attend the PIBA meeting in February," Kelly stated.
"We would like all members to attend, including life and pension members. After all, what would stop the IL&P group moving on from this to reduce life commissions?"
Ptsb plans to introduce the commission cuts in January 2009. It says the move reflects the increased costs of mortgages brought about by the recent global credit squeeze.
"Given the manner in which IL&P introduced these changes (no meaningful consultation and an announcement just before Christmas) we find it difficult to believe that they would employ these meetings as a fair barometer of broker opinion," Kelly told members.
"PIBA members abstaining from these meetings will send a clear signal to IL&P to respect normal protocols and meaningfully engage with broker representative bodies."
It sounds like a row that will run and run.
