Lynda Blackwell, the Financial Conduct Authority’s manager of its mortgages sector team is to speak at the ASTL’s annual conference which takes place on 16 September at Painters’ Hall in the City of London.

Her team at the FCA is responsible for monitoring developments in the UK mortgage market and identifying and assessing emerging risks to help inform and drive Supervision’s overall risk prioritisation and mitigation strategy for the mortgage sector. Before moving to Supervision, Blackwell led the team responsible for the Mortgage Market Review.

She is a qualified solicitor who has been involved in the mortgage market for over 25 years, the last 13 of those with the regulator.

The conference entitled ‘Bridging – Opportunities and Challenges’ will cover issues such as the impending implementation of the EU Mortgage Directive, the potential impact of the new Financial Policy Committee measures as well as other issues such as fraud and rising house prices; all of which will have an impact on short term lending and the wider lending market.

The conference is open to all lenders, intermediaries, financial advisers, bankers, solicitors and surveyors, plus anyone else who will be affected by the short term lending market.

Benson Hersch, chief executive of the ASTL, said: “With every month that goes by there are new challenges that are affecting short term lending. Regulatory changes, fraud, the state of the economy and the likely rise in interest rates will all have a big impact.

“The conference will explore the opportunities associated with bridging and short term lending; it will also explore the challenges that we face and will explore the ways to prepare for and overcome these challenges.”