Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Metro Bank £16.75 million. An FCA investigation found that between June 2016 and December 2020, Metro Bank failed to have the right systems and controls to adequately monitor over 60 million transactions, with a value of over £51 billion, for money laundering risks. Metro Bank automated the monitoring of…
Read more
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is set to receive an additional £9.3 million in funding to enhance its capabilities in combating fraud. Funding has been provided to create a new team which will extend SFO’s capabilities to seize assets from convicted fraudsters, and expand and accelerate the use of technology to assist disclosure. It will…
Read more
Latest mortgage lending data from UK Finance has found that there were 93,630 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in Q3 2024, 3% fewer than in the previous quarter (96,090), but 8% higher than the same quarter in 2023 (87,010). The data also showed that there were 32,860 homeowner mortgages…
Read more
New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew in September 2024 by 9% compared with the same month in 2023. In the first nine months of 2024, new business in this market was 1% higher than in the same period in 2023. The credit card and…
Read more
New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer car finance new business volumes grew in September 2024 by 4% compared with the same month in 2023. The corresponding value of new business increased by 8% over the same period. In the first nine months of 2024, new business was 2%…
Read more
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to cut the base rate by 0.25% to 4.75%. MPC voted 8-1 to cut rates, with the dissenter preferring to leave cuts unchanged at 5%. Inflation is expected to increase to around 2.5% by the end of the year, from 1.7% in September. Steve Vaid,…
Read more
Blend has announced it has hired Graeme Walker as Lending Director. Walker, who has over 30 years of experience in the industry, worked as head of lending within the development finance team at Hampshire Trust Bank before joining Blend. Prior to that, he held roles at Barclays Wealth Management and Heritable Bank. Blend’s Managing Director David…
Read more
The Government has published new guidance that will provide organisations with advice on how to take action to prevent fraud. Introduced last year as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCT), the offence is intended to hold large organisations to account if they profit from fraud. Under the offence, which has cross-Parliament…
Read more
Credit management firm, Pepper Advantage has announced that its owner Pepper Global has entered into an agreement to sell the business to private investment firm J.C. Flowers & Co subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and other…
Read more
The Government has announced that it plans to increase the cap on tuition fees for England-domiciled undergraduate students from £9,250 to £9,535 for the 2025-26 academic year. This is in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast for inflation as measured by RPIX (3.1%). This ends a long-running cash freeze in the fee…
Read more
Data from Barclays shows that spending on cards rose by 0.7% in October, marking a slowdown from the 1.1% rise recorded in September. Overall Retail spending grew 0.7% in October 2024, a slight fall compared to the year-on-year growth seen in September 2024 (1.1%). Nonetheless, this is a third consecutive month of growth for the sector as it…
Read more
Barclays has announced thatit hassuccessfully completed its £600m acquisition of Tesco Bank following high court approval. The acquired business includes credit cards, unsecured personal loans, deposits and the operating infrastructure which, following completion of the acquisition, will continue to be operated under the ownership and management of Barclays UK. The new partnership will see Barclays…
Read more
Sainsbury’s has announced that it has sold its Argos Financial Services (Home Retail Group Card Service) cards portfolio to NewDay Group for £720 million, aligning with its strategy to concentrate on core retail operations. The supermarket has announced that it has also partnered with NewDay to launch a new Argos-branded digital credit offer. This move…
Read more