Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) Chief Executive Abby Thomas says the ombudsman would like to improve its communications with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to help the regulator respond quicker to emerging issues in the financial sector. The Chief Ombudsman told the Treasury Select Committee that while she is satisfied with the level of powers the…
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Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) against Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firms have jumped 36% over the last three years according to research by Creditspring. The research found that 220 complaints were made against BNPL firms during 2022, compared to 208 in the previous year and 162 in 2020. Creditspring says that the…
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The government has announced its intention to regulate interest-free Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) products. The government consulted on policy options to deliver a proportionate approach to regulation in October 2021, followed by a consultation response in June 2022. It is now consulting on the proposed draft legislation that will bring BNPL into Financial Conduct Authority regulation.…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has publicly censured Amigo Loans for failing to conduct adequate affordability checks on borrowers and guarantors. The FCA says it would have imposed a fine of £72.9 million however Amigo demonstrated that this would cause it serious financial hardship. A fine would also have threatened Amigo’s ability to meet its…
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A study by the consumer group Which? has found that banks are putting customers at risk of fraud by sending security codes via text. In an investigation into 13 current account providers, The consumer champion’s tests found several banks were missing basic online and app protections. The research comes after 29,102 cases of remote banking…
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The Bank of England has increased the base rate by 50 basis points to 4%, marking the tenth consecutive increase. The bank rate has continued to increase since December 2021, when it stood at just 0.25%. Commenting on the rise Richard Lane, Director of External Affairs & Operating Subsidiaries at StepChange Debt Charity, said “The…
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With the Bank of England predicted to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 4% this Thursday, Credit app TotallyMoney has commissioned Moneycomms to calculate the impact of the expected interest rate hike on mortgage borrowers. The research found that For the average UK property costing £270,708 with a 75% LTV, a 0.5 percentage…
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With six months to go before the Consumer Duty comes into force, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a review of how firms are planning to implement the Duty. The FCA reviewed a sample of implementation plans and found that many firms show they understand and embrace the shift to delivering good customer outcomes,…
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Qatari-owned Al Rayan Bank has been fined £4.02 million (£4,023,600) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which uncovered multiple failings between April 2015 and November 2017. The Knightsbridge branch of the Shariah-compliant bank accepted cash deposits of hundreds of thousands of pounds without doing proper anti-money-laundering (AML) and terrorist financing checks. It failed to carry…
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Guaranty Trust Bank has been fined £7,671,800 over serious weaknesses in its systems and controls designed to prevent money laundering. The Financial Conduct Authority found serious weaknesses in its anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls between October 2014 and July 2019. During the relevant period, GT Bank failed to undertake adequate customer risk assessments, often not…
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Criminal gangs will continue to launder money in the UK as long as regulated firms insist on trusting manual verification checks, an anti-money laundering specialist SmartSearch has warned. A cross-sector survey of 500 UK-based decision-makers revealed that regulated firms in the North West, North East, and East of England rely most on manual checks to…
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A new non-profit company has been launched to protect cash in the UK communities. The company named Cash Access UK is made up of nine of the largest high street banks. The incorporation of the company, which has been supported by UK Finance from the beginning, is a major milestone in delivering the industry’s commitment…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have fined TSB Bank a total of £48,650,000 for operational risk management and governance failures, including management of outsourcing risks, relating to the bank’s IT upgrade programme. Technical failures in TSB’s IT system ultimately resulted in customers being unable to access banking services. In…
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