Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Bank of England has announced that it has reduced the Bank Rate by 0.25% to 4.25%, marking the second cut this year. The MPC voted 5 to 4 in favour of the cut, with two members preferring to cut rates by 0.5% to 4.0% and two preferring to leave rates unchanged at 4.5%. Commenting on the…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has appointed David Geale as permanent Executive Director for Payments and Digital Finance and Managing Director of the Payment Systems Regulator. In his role Geale will be responsible for helping to deliver the National Payments Vision and driving the FCA’s work on open banking and digital…
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LiveMore, the mortgage lender for people aged 50 to 90 plus, is calling on the financial services industry to come together to redefine and clarify what ‘later life lending’ really means. While the term has become increasingly common, LiveMore warns that it is still widely – and incorrectly – used as a synonym for equity…
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Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) regarding banks and credit card companies surged by 76% year-on-year in H2 2024, accounting for 109,155 out of an overall total of 141,846 complaints. This increase is attributed to a rise in financial scams and fraud. Vanquis Bank topped the list with 17,612 new complaints, followed by credit…
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The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has announced that it has appointed Paul Smee as Group Chair of the FLA Lending Code. Smee has extensive experience in financial services and was most recently Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders from 2011 until 2017, when it was absorbed into UK Finance. He previously ran…
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2025’s Deaf Awareness Week gets underway, the LSB (Lending Standards Board) has published its annual update on the availability of accessibility tools and services for deaf or hard of hearing people across the UK’s financial services sector. This update follows the LSB’s 2023 report on the challenges deaf or hard of hearing people can face when…
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Latest Bank of England data has shown that net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals was £0.9 billion in March, down from £1.3 billion in the previous month. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards decreased to £0.2 billion in March, the lowest since April 2024 (£0.2 billion). Net borrowing through other forms of consumer…
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A new report from the Building Societies Association (BSA) has found that a significant number of potential first-time buyers have failed to get on the property ladder since the financial crisis. Analysis of historic first-time buyer data shows that around 7.2 million individuals or couples would have been expected to buy their first home since…
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The Government has issued new powers to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which will allow the DWP to recover money directly from the bank accounts of fraudsters who can repay but are wilfully gaming the system in order not to, passed an important stage in the House of Commons as it had its…
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The latest data on Credit Unions released by the Bank of England has found that there are now 2,152,812 members of Credit Unions as of the end of 2024 – an increase of 58,295 through the year (2,094,517 as of the end of 2024). Loans to members also registered another notable increase, rising £146 million…
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Latetst Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), complaints to financial services firms decreased by 4.3% in the second half of 2024, coming in at 1.78 million. The decline may reflect the positive effects of the FCA’s Consumer Duty, which mandates that firms prioritise customer needs in their operations. The total redress paid also fell by 3% to…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it is seeking views from firms about how its live AI testing service can help them to deploy safe and responsible AI, which will benefit UK consumers and markets. The live testing service would be a new component of the FCA’s AI Lab, which has been supporting…
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has announced that Julia Black, Anita Kimber, John Ball and Stéphane Malrait have been appointed as Non–Executive Directors to the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Chancellor has also confirmed a one-year extension of Richard Lloyd’s second term as a Non-Executive Director on the FCA Board.…
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