ONE MORE THING CIARAN HANCOCKBANK OF Scotland this week joined the club of mortgage providers cutting its commission to brokers. Commission payments will range from 0.5 per cent to 0.7 per cent from May, roughly half the previous level.

First Active made a similar decision last week, following in the footsteps of its parent group Ulster Bank and Irish Life & Permanent. The banks are travelling a route that airlines took some time ago with intermediaries now being squeezed. Needless to say, mortgage brokers are cheesed off.

IL&P boss Denis Casey, who trousered more than €1.3 million last year, must be wondering where the financial group went wrong. IL&P was first out of the blocks in cutting rates, announcing its decision to reduce commission payments at the start of the year. It gave brokers a 12-month notice period of the planned cuts and got a right kicking in the media from brokers for the move.

A few months on and First Active and Bank of Scotland have slashed their rates and are introducing the new payment structures in a shorter timeframe, with barely the same hue and cry. IL&P now looks positively generous in its handling of the move.