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Speaking this evening at UK Finance's Annual Morgage Dinner in London, Stephen Jones, Chief Executive of UK Finance said:

Welcome to the UK Finance annual mortgage dinner. Thank you all for coming today to join us.

We have members here tonight from across the range of mortgage lenders we represent - residential, Buy to Let, third-party administrators and those who lend commercially to housing associations, as well as many of our associate members.

I would like to highlight the valuable and important work UK Finance and the mortgage industry has delivered in partnership this year.

The mortgages market is at the forefront of the UK economy and at the very centre of the work UK Finance performs on behalf of its members.                                                                            

Firstly, I would like to thank Jackie Bennett and her team at UK Finance for all their hard work engaging with members, regulators and politicians.

I would also like to thank Richard Rowntree who has ably chaired our Mortgage Product and Service Board this year, and to the rest of that board, for their hard work and commitment in helping to shape our agenda on behalf of all Mortgage Stream members this year.

Some of our mortgage team's key achievements that drive positive outcomes for customers include:

• Working with the FCA towards implementation of the new rules on responsible lending designed to support mortgage customers on reversion rates, particularly those of unregulated mortgage book owners.
• Publishing comprehensive guidance for lenders on dealing with customers in arrears and possessions to help firms meet their obligations under the Treating Customers Fairly principles.
• Supporting members in their LIBOR to SONIA transition journeys as we move towards the 2021 deadline for LIBOR withdrawal, including a toolkit for lenders. We will continue our regular and direct engagement with the regulators in our efforts to ensure the mortgage market and its customers are prepared.

On LIBOR transitions, we are continuing to work with the Bank of England's Risk-Free Rate Working Group. But a number of pieces of the jigsaw need to be put in place for firms to make key decisions about the transition and we hope we get clarity on these early in the new year.  In some areas we may need legislative and/or regulatory support to ensure consistent and fair customer outcomes. 

I?d like to make particular mention of John Heron of Paragon Mortgages, who is retiring from his long-standing role as managing director there after 35 years. John has been a popular and familiar industry stalwart whose expertise and enthusiasm will be missed. We wish him all the best for a long and happy retirement.

We are all keen to see the end of political and business uncertainty and support the growth and competitiveness of the UK's financial sector. I am not going to make any predictions about the possible outcome of next week's general election!

Our industry wants to focus on competitiveness, innovation, talent, tax, regulatory proportionality and coordination, and regulation fit for the future, all themes that underpin UK Finance's work for our members. At UK Finance we seek to help our members, large and small, navigate change.

So let's consider the economic outlook for the mortgage and housing markets.

Despite a backdrop of uncertainty, we have a strong and competitive mortgage market in the UK, with steady growth in recent months. Gross lending looks as though it will reach around £265 billion for 2019, almost the same as in 2018.

A growing number of first-time buyers are entering the housing market, while existing homeowners are taking advantage of competitive products available in a low interest rate environment.

The potential end of Help to Buy in 2023 presents a major challenge to growth in new housing delivery.

We will continue to engage with governments across the UK on initiatives to support low cost home ownership and increase the new supply of affordable and social housing, and to ensure that housing association lending and investment continues to be attractive.

Challenges still remain. Five-year fixed mortgage deals now account for nearly half of all fixed rate sales, a market where two-year deals once dominated. Longer terms will inevitably mean fewer remortgages in the coming years, which the industry must deal with.

Today for the first time we published data showing league tables of buy-to-let mortgage lending in 2018 by UK Finance mortgage members.

Our figures show that, despite challenging conditions in the buy-to-let market, lenders are continuing to support and work with landlords, to ensure sustainable and affordable finance is available for the private rented sector.

Product transfers have become increasingly popular, looking likely to account for £165 billion of activity in 2019, up four per cent from 2018. These figures suggest that more and more customers are engaging with their existing lender. In fact, only 17 per cent of customers are now on a reversion rate, almost half what it was four years ago.

I would like to thank our national chairs for their tremendous effort and contribution throughout the year in progressing mortgage market and housing policy issues in ways that promote consistency while respecting differences across the UK. UK Finance's latest figures show there has been steady growth in the number of first-time buyer mortgages in all our nations this year, as highlighted in our latest Regional Trends figures released last week.

I want to highlight the bigger picture. How do we, at UK Finance and in the industry, define success?

I believe that our role and purpose cannot be seen in narrow financial terms alone.

Our broader long-term attributes must be to champion and enable a thriving industry, doing right by consumers, businesses and wider society.

The financial services industry and mortgage lenders are working to support the transition to a zero carbon economy.

In November we hosted a successful Climate Risk, Green Finance and Sustainability Conference which some of you may have attended.

The publication on 2 July of the UK's Green Finance Strategy and the launch of the Green Finance Institute, comes as the industry makes more moves towards greener housebuilding.

We look forward to working with the Green Finance Institute on this over the coming year, including through its new Coalition for the Energy Efficiency of Buildings, which had its first full meeting this morning.

UK Finance supports the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative's ?Principles for Responsible Banking?, which provide a framework for businesses to align their strategies to society's ambitions to meet the UN's development goals and climate targets.

We welcome the mortgage industry's continued support for the implementation of the voluntary code of practice to protect vulnerable customers from financial abuse.

Our work on the voluntary industry Code to prevent Authorised Push Payment scams, the Treasury's Investing in Women Code and the Banking Protocol highlights our commitment to fighting fraud and promoting diversity and inclusion.

I?d like to turn to research we have recently conducted with Hometrack, part of Zoopla.

It is now over a decade since the global financial crisis led to major changes in the mortgage market.

These included regulatory changes designed to protect both borrowers and firms from the risk of future economic shocks.

We saw government intervention in the mortgage market to stimulate new home building and support first-time buyers and those with smaller deposits, particularly through the Help to Buy scheme and increases in shared ownership.

In a first of its kind, this research combines UK Finance mortgage data with insight and data from Hometrack and Zoopla to analyse how the size and shape of the mortgage market has changed over the last 10-15 years, the regulatory and policy drivers that have influenced this and the implications for the housing and mortgage markets.

Consumers and the society that we live in are more complex than they were ten years ago and the report explores whether the changes that happened mean there are customer groups who are less well served in today's mortgage market.

We hope that this evidence base will act as a springboard for further discussions about the future direction of regulation and policy thinking. UK Finance and its members want to be part of that discussion and help to shape tomorrow's mortgage and housing landscape.

To close, I would like to look forward to the year ahead.

A year in which UK Finance will continue to support our members and their customers in meeting the challenges and expectations of a new government and ensure the voice of the mortgages industry is amplified in the corridors of power.

We want to build on the successes I mentioned earlier, improve competitiveness, harness digital innovation and enable market reforms. 

We will continue to work to provide guidance to our members while engaging closely with regulators and policymakers to ensure the best possible outcomes for firms and their customers. We value the feedback we receive from our members.

Our recent member survey provided us with much to be proud of. However, we are aware that there are always areas in which we can improve further, and we have taken your suggestions on board.

We will also work to deliver added value to our members and their customers, through providing guidance on areas such as meeting the needs of vulnerable customers, fighting fraud and battling climate change.

I would now like to hand over to Paul McKenzie, Executive Director of Fundraising & Communications at Depaul UK, who will be speaking about the incredible work they do. I would also like to thank all the firms who have contributed to our prize draw.

Thank you very much once again for your support over the course of a busy but successful year. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening tonight.