Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, has appointed Andrea Coscelli as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Dr Coscelli has held the position of Acting CEO since July 2016, taking on the role from the previous incumbent, Alex Chisholm. The CMA is the UK’s independent competition…
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Debt Recovery law form Ascent Performance Group has announced a new partnership with Francis Hanna & Co, allowing Ascent to provide its full range of services across Northern Ireland. The move gives Ascent the widest UK geographical coverage of any debt recovery law firm. Ascent already operates in England, Wales and Scotland. The relationship will be based…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published proposals to extend the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to almost all regulated firms. The new regime will essentially replace the Approved Persons Regime. The aim of the new regime is to reduce harm to consumers and strengthen market integrity by making individuals more accountable for their…
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The number of complaints about motor finance products has grown in the second quarter of this year, according to the Motor Ombudsman.The Motor Ombudsman, the automotive dispute resolution provider, has reported a 13% increase in the level of contacts handled by its team of legally-trained adjudicators in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the first three…
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The board directors of the BCCA and the Consumer Finance Association have released a joint statement announcing their intentions to merge both associations. The statement read “The short-term lending sector has changed radically over the last few years in areas such as regulation and lending culture. It is time for a change in sector representation.…
Read moreProvident Financial has announced its Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2017. Here is an overview of the group highlights from the report: Dividend maintained recognising the group’s medium-term growth opportunities First-half adjusted profit before tax reduced by 22.6% to £115.3m (2016: £148.9m) and adjusted basic earnings per share down by 22.6% to 60.3p…
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An interest rate rise of just 0.5% would cost households an extra £3.4 billion in interest payments in just the first year according to analysis by Moore Stephens. Bank of England data shows UK households are currently paying £39.2 billion in interest payments on debt that is likely to be affected immediately by an interest rate…
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Gatehouse Bank has announced two new senior appointments. Tim Blease is joining Gatehouse as Chief Operating Officer and Sharron Harvey is joining as Executive Vice President, Head of Human Resources. Blease will be contributing to Gatehouse’s new strategy including its move into retail mortgages. His previous roles include New Business Strategy and Innovation Director at…
Read moreThe Credit Services Association (CSA) has appointed Arran Hope as its Apprenticeship Coordinator. Hope’s appointment follows the Association’s successful inclusion on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) – meaning that the CSA is approved to deliver apprenticeship training for employers paying the Apprenticeship Levy. He will be the central point of contact regarding the…
Read moreThe Credit Services Association (CSA) has secured an agreement with Royal Mail to bring the Test & Innovate Scheme (TIS) to the collections industry. TIS is an incentive for trying new ideas in mail applications that could prompt higher response rates from customers. These range from changes to letter content and layout through to envelope changes…
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City of Wolverhampton Council has become the first local authority in the country to sign up to a new protocol to promote best practice for dealing with people who get into difficulties paying their council tax. The protocol has been created to get local authorities, enforcement agencies and advice agencies working together to help people…
Read moreThe Irish Central Bank has announced two senior appointments. The Central Bank appointed Ed Sibley as Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation and Derville Rowland as Director General, Financial Conduct. As Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation, Sibley will be responsible for the supervision of credit institutions, insurance firms and the asset management industry. Prior to this appointment, Sibley was…
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Credit Scoring specialist Aire has announced the closing of a $5million funding round, led by Sunstone Capital alongside White Star. In conjunction with closing the latest round of funding, Aire today also announces two new high-profile partnerships across different sub-sectors of consumer credit: Aire is embarking on projects with the pioneering financial services company Zopa…
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