Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Josephine (Josie) Broadstock, of Warrington, together with Robert Jones, 39 of Stockport, have been banned from being company directors following an Insolvency Service investigation. Husband and wife, Josie and Mark Broadstock, along with Robert Jones, were directors of Smooth Financial Consultants Ltd (Smooth). The company was incorporated in June 2005 and traded as The Debt…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has announced its price cap measures which it says will benefit over 11 million more households on poor value default tariffs and protect them from being overcharged. The announcement follows Parliament passing the Government’s Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act, which became law on July 19 and gives Ofgem a duty…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has appointed Sheldon Mills as its new director of Competition. Mills is currently senior director, mergers and state aid at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). At the FCA, Mills will be a central figure in delivering one of the organisation’s operational objectives — to promote competition in…
Read moreWater companies across England and Wales have submitted their plans to cut consumer bills. The plans were shared with Ofwat as part of their business plans for the years 2020-2025. As part of Ofwat’s 2019 price review, all water companies must set out a detailed business plan outlining how they will meet the needs of…
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA )has announced that it has provisionally found that the proposed merger between SSE Retail (SSE) and Npower does not raise competition concerns. An inquiry group of independent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) panel members has investigated how the merger would affect householders, following initial concerns about the potential impact on ‘standard variable tariffs’…
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A Director of three Birmingham debt management companies has banned for 12 years after he failed to ensure companies provided regulated advice to their customers. Delroy Roberts, from Birmingham, was a director of three debt management companies: Haydon Associates Debt Management Consultants Limited, Sterling Financial Security Limited and Clear View Finance Limited. He was appointed…
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British Gas has paid £2.65 million in refunds, compensation and redress after it misinformed customers by issuing incorrect terms and conditions about exit fees. It was also found that British Gas had wrongly charged them to some customers and applied incorrect charges to others after their fixed deal came to an end. An Ofgem investigation…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has said Banks should not automatically assume customers are at fault when they have fallen victim to a scam. Caroline Wayman, Chief Executive of the (FOS) said “Today, it’s often loopholes in new technologies, rather than in old ones, that fraudsters are using to their advantage. Your first step toward being…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published its latest quarterly update about the financial products and services complaints data. The statistics include the number of enquiries and new complaints received, the number of complaints referred to an ombudsman’s final decision, and the proportion of complaints resolved in consumers’ favour. The latest statistics analyse April, May…
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The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) has prevented £25m of fraud and carried out 84 arrests and interviews under caution in the first half of 2018, new figures have revealed. The DCPCU, a specialist police unit sponsored by the finance industry, achieved estimated savings of £25m from preventing and disrupting fraud in the…
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From today the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will enforce new rules requiring providers of personal and business accounts to publish information that will help current customers to compare bank accounts from different providers. Banks will have to report major operational and security incidents that have taken place and disclose whether 24-hour customer helplines are available. The pressure…
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The Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has announced the appointment of Simon McDougall as Executive Director for Technology Policy and Innovation. McDougall is currently Managing Director of Promontory – a risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm acquired in 2016 by IBM, where he founded and led a global privacy practice. He has extensive experience of…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in collaboration with 11 financial regulators and related organisations, has announced the creation of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN), building on the FCA’s proposal earlier this year to create a ‘global sandbox’. The network will seek to provide a more efficient way for innovative firms to interact with regulators,…
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