Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
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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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Santander UK £107,793,300 after it found serious and persistent gaps in its anti-money laundering (AML) controls, affecting its Business Banking customers. An investigation found that between 31st December 2012 and 18th October 2017, Santander failed to properly oversee and manage its AML systems, which significantly impacted the account…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has outlined the technical process that banks and building societies will have to follow as part of its new reporting requirement for authorised push payment (APP) scams. APP scams are a major problem in the UK. In the first half of this year, there were over 95,000 incidents of APP scams, with…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed new measures to clamp down on illegal, unfair or misleading financial marketing. The FCA has today outlined new checks for those firms which want to approve financial promotions. The new measures will require firms to demonstrate they have the right expertise for the promotions they wish to…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out proposals to improve the credit information sector so it can deliver higher quality and more comprehensive information for consumers and firms. Credit reference agencies (CRAs) build financial profiles of consumers which they sell to credit information users to inform lending and other decisions. The FCA wants to…
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