Bristol revealed as UK’s contactless capital

18th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

Contactless card spending surged by nearly a third in 2018, and with over 20 million transactions taking place each day, new data released by Paymentsense reveals the UK cities leading this growth with those in the top 10 expected to go cashless first. Analysing data of nationwide transactions from 2018, Paymentsense has explored the UK’s…

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FCA reveals its priorities for 2019/20

17th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its Business Plan for 2019/20, which outlines the key priorities for the coming year. As the UK finalises preparations to leave the European Union, the immediate priority will remain supporting an orderly transition post-exit. The FCA will also continue to play a leading role in shaping the global…

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FCA reminds firms about SM&CR

15th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a reminder to authorised firms that they need to start preparing today for the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to be ready for the new regulation coming into effect on 9th December 2019. The FCA has already rolled out the SM&CR to banks and insurance firms, and…

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TSB to provide fraud refund guarantee

15th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

TSB has announced a UK banking first, a Fraud Refund Guarantee, to ensure the Bank’s 5.2 million customers are protected if they are an innocent victim of fraud – whether it’s unauthorised transactions on their accounts or customers tricked into authorising payments to fraudsters. TSB’s announcement marks a significant step-change in banking, where today customers…

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Standard Chartered fined £102.2 million over AML breaches

9th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Standard Chartered Bank (Standard Chartered) £102,163,200 for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) breaches in two higher risk areas of its business. This is the second largest financial penalty for AML controls failings ever imposed by the FCA. The announcement follows FCA investigations into two areas of Standard Chartered’s business identified…

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First Trust bank rebrands as AIB

9th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

First Trust Bank announced that it will rebrand as AIB. The change will mean that all First Trust Bank operations, products and services will rebrand as AIB on a phased basis to create a shared and unified brand for our customers across all our business operations from 2020. Over the past number of years, AIB…

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Consumer finance new business increases by 1% in February

8th April 2019 Arrears and Recoveries |

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show growth of 1% in consumer finance new business in February 2019, compared with the same month last year. Retail store and online credit grew in February by 6%, compared with the same month in 2018, while the personal loan and credit card finance sectors…

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Consumers twice as likely to change electricity provider than bank account provider

4th April 2019 Consumer Collections |

According to new research by Equifax, consumers are most likely to vote with their feet when it comes to their electricity and gas provider (41% say they would switch), followed by their TV/internet provider (33%) and mobile phone provider (31%). The research found only 22% of people would switch their bank account, and the figure…

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One in four consumers believe ownership era is coming to an end

3rd April 2019 Consumer Collections |

One in four consumers believe the ownership era is coming to an end, a study found. A poll of 2,000 UK adults found more than 40 percent believe they’ll never own their own home. And it also emerged currently less than half the nation own cars outright. The results of the study display the current…

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Credit cards and loan borrowing slows

29th March 2019 Consumer Collections |

The Bank of England has published its latest Money & Credit report which shows that the annual growth of consumer’s borrowing on credit cards and as other loans continued to slow, though at a more gradual pace than the second half of 2018. Whilst annual growth of bank lending to businesses fell in February for…

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Over three-fifths of UK adults are in debt

27th March 2019 Consumer Collections |

Millions of consumers are taking on multiple forms of debt without a clear plan of how to pay it off, new research by KnowYourMoney.co.uk has revealed. The comparison website commissioned an independent, nationally-representative survey among more than 2,000 UK adults. It found that 62% of people across the country have some form of debt, with credit cards (35%),…

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FCA announces preparation for senior manager regime roll-out

22nd March 2019 Consumer Collections |

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reaffirmed the regulator’s focus on affordability, business models and culture in the consumer credit sector. Speaking in London this week, Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision – retail and authorisations at the FCA, noted that growth in the sector has slowed, increasing 6.5% over the last 12 months, according…

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NAO: Regulators could be failing consumers

20th March 2019 Consumer Collections |

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the four main regulators – Ofwat, Ofgem, Ofcom and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – understand the significant difficulties facing consumers across utilities, communications and financial services markets, but cannot prove if they are effectively responding to consumer concerns or offering enough protection for…

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