Lynda Blackwell to speak at ASTL conference

The Association of Short Term Lenders has confirmed that Lynda Blackwell, manager of the mortgages sector team at the FCA, will be speaking at its annual conference on 22 September.

Entitled ‘Lending in an uncertain world’, the conference will address how the changing world is continuing to affect UK mortgage markets and how businesses in the bridging industry can effectively prepare for the uncertainties to come.

As manager of the supervision team at the FCA, Blackwell is responsible for monitoring the developments in the UK’s mortgage market while also identifying and assessing emerging risks. Before moving to supervision, the qualified solicitor was mortgage policy manager at the FCA for more than 10years, where she developed, maintained and promoted conduct standards in the mortgage industry.

The conference is open to lenders, financial advisers, intermediaries, surveyors and anyone else who is interested in the short term lending market. Blackwell, who also spoke at the ASTL conference in 2014, will this year be joined by keynote speaker Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, former adviser to the Prime Minister. Other speakers will be announced in due course.

Benson Hersch, chief executive of the ASTL, said: “The aim of the conference is to provide attendees with opinion and updates from an array of industry experts to help better prepare professionals in the sector to not only cope but prosper in light of the impending opportunities and challenges, including fraud, regulatory changes and the general state of the economy.

“Having worked for a number of building societies and for the FCA in a variety of roles since 2001, Lynda’s unrivalled and unique experience, insight and knowledge of the sector make her a very welcome addition to our spokesperson line up.”