Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The FCA has published a webpage on debt permissions for consumer credit firms, which states that a full permission firm with the permission of debt adjusting or debt counselling with a “no debt management limitation” must review its limitations to ensure they are appropriate. To find out more detail click here.
Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chairman, John Griffith-Jones, has today announced the appointment of a new Chair for the FCA’s independent Smaller Business Practitioner Panel.Craig Errington, Group Chief Executive of specialist financial mutual Wesleyan, becomes Chair of the FCA Smaller Business Practitioner Panel from 1 April 2017. He has been a member of the Panel…
Read morePlusnet, a BT owned company, has today been fined £880,000 by Ofcom for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers. The penalty is the result of an investigation, which found that the telecoms company broke a fundamental billing rule by continuing to charge a group of customers for landline or broadband, after they had…
Read more
The European Central Bank (ECB) has urged Banks to implement realistic and ambitious strategies to address Non Performing Loans (NPL) reductions. European banking reforms should include a range of policy options such as non-performing loan workout, servicing and portfolio sales, the ECB said in a report statement. In its final guidance on non-performing loans, the…
Read more
Agility and therefore change is beneficial to all organisations; being able to change products, services and internal processes allows a firm to stay ahead of competitors. But with change comes risk. Risk which must be managed correctly in order to maximise the benefit of the change by minimising the risks associated with it. Technology undoubtedly…
Read moreThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today confirmed the appointment of Nick Stace as a Non-Executive Director to its board. The appointment, made by HM Treasury, is for an initial three year term starting 1 April 2017. Stace is currently Chief Executive of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He has held executive leadership positions in consumer…
Read moreThe Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today published the results of a survey completed by local councils at the end of last year, along with a blog highlighting guidance available to help councils achieve compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Anulka Clarke, ICO Head of Good Practice, said “The overarching conclusion from our analysis…
Read moreThe UK government is setting up a new body that will tackle money laundering and criminal financing. The Office for Professional Body Anti Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) will deal with potential weaknesses in the supervisory system and aim to improve its standards. It will also ensure supervisors and law enforcement work together more effectively, the…
Read more
Harrington Brooks has been granted full authorisation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As part of its new regime, the FCA wanted debt management firms to meet a set of required conditions, including: fair and transparent fees, the provision of suitable advice, fully trained employees, appropriate systems and controls to protect client money, and a…
Read more
The CML Director General Paul Smee has addressed the FCA’s management of the mortgage market. In a keynote speech at the Scottish annual lunch Smee said “Regulators need a detailed understanding of the mortgage market, but should avoid micro-managing it. ” The FCA’s mortgage market study has recently resulted in significant levels of data being…
Read more
The Citizens Advice has given its response to the budget announcement. Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said “The Chancellor has set out good intentions for helping ordinary working families – the test will be if the government delivers on boosting income security and tackling failing consumer markets. We’ve repeatedly called for more support…
Read more
Over 600,000 consumers of short term loans may no longer have access to credit, according to a report by the Consumer Finance Association (CFA) and economic analysts, Oxera. Without access to a regulated form of finance many consumers are unable to take action to manage their cash flow or cover emergency financial costs. They could end…
Read more
The government has announced that it will be cracking down on misleading consumer practices including subscription traps, where people pay subscriptions they aren’t aware they’ve agreed to. A report from Citizens Advice last year found as many as 2 million people struggle to cancel continuous payments – often used for buying products online – and…
Read more