Altered documents lead to cancelled licence for mortgage adviser

The FMA licence of Saanvi 2022 trading as Saaga Mortgages has been cancelled for submitting altered supporting documents to mortgage lenders.

Aggregator KAN raised red flags to the regulator and the FMA’s investigation found this happened in lending applications Saanvi submitted for six clients.

It was unable to provide originating emails or source records for the lending applications.

Mortgage advice was provided by Gajay Singh, Saanvi’s sole director and only adviser.

Head of the FMA’s perimeter and response team Helena Lewis says the issues uncovered at Saanvi reflect serious failures of trust, governance, and professional standards.

“We also found Saanvi’s clients were not informed of a referral arrangement which included payments to a third party who was actively involved in its advice process.

“The third party appeared to be actively involved in Saanvi’s advice process rather than acting purely as a source of referrals. Saanvi had misled KAN about the identity of this individual.”

Saanvi also disclosed that clients’ personal information may have been accessible to its administrative assistant, who had no formal employment or contractual relationship with Saanvi.

“Mortgage advice involves some of the most important financial decisions consumers will make, and poor conduct in this area can have long lasting consequences for households,” Lewis says.

“The cancellation of Saanvi’s licence is critical to ensuring we protect consumers and the integrity of the market.

“It is important for financial advice providers to act ethically to maintain trust and uphold the integrity of the sector, which Saanvi failed to do. 

She says Saanvi co-operated with the FMA throughout its investigation, and Singh expressed remorse for the conduct identified.