Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published its quarterly data in relation to financial products today – this covers the period October 2021 – December 2021. The data shows complaints about current accounts, credit cards, car/motorcycle insurance and personal loans continue to feature in the top five most complained about products. Packaged bank accounts was…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has secured changes to potentially unfair and unclear terms in the contracts of buy now pay later (BNPL) providers Clearpay, Klarna, Laybuy and Openpay. The FCA says that it was concerned there was a potential risk of harm to consumers as a result of the way…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) confirmed and published a new rule that paves the way for more banks and building societies to adopt Confirmation of Payee (CoP), the bank account name checking service. Every year thousands of individuals and businesses fall victim to Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams – where they are tricked into sending…
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HM Treasury has announced that they have started the search for the next Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). While the search for Charles Randell’s permanent successor concludes, Richard Lloyd OBE will act as Interim Chair of the FCA from 1st June 2022. Aidene Walsh will act as interim chair of the Payments Systems…
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New equity release customers will be able to mitigate the costs of borrowing in later life through a new product safeguard announced by the Equity Release Council (the Council), the representative industry body. From 28th March 2022, all customers taking out lifetime mortgages that meet Council standards will be guaranteed the right to make penalty…
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The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has announced that it has imposed fines against Mastercard, allpay, Advanced Payment Solutions (APS), Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) and Sulion after concluding that the five parties infringed competition law by agreeing not to compete or poach each other’s customers in the prepaid cards market in the UK. The pre-paid cards…
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The PSR has published its latest access and governance report, showing trends and developments in interbank payment systems over 2019 and 2020. The report details how new participants have been able to join payment systems (access) and notes developments in how the payment systems have been run and operated (governance). This shows that interbank payment…
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Consumers using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) are much more likely to be struggling according to latest research by debt charity StepChange. In response to the HM Treasury’s consultation on how to regulate BNPL StepChange is pointing to clear evidence that BNPL products are being widely used by people experiencing financial difficulty. For example, consumers…
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Which? is calling for stronger safeguards to stop online shoppers from choosing Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) to pay for products without knowing the risks, as new research from the consumer champion reveals many people do not think that they are taking on debt when using this payment method. Buy Now Pay Later has soared…
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Metro Bank has been fined £5,376,000 for accounting errors that forced the bank to raise £375 million from its shareholders to shore up its balance sheet. In January 2019 Metro disclosed errors in its accounting treatment of professional buy-to-let loans and loans secured by commercial mortgages. The mistakes went back to May 2016 and meant…
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The total value of fines handed out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has increased nearly four-fold, hitting £577 million in 2020/21 according to analysis by RPC. The figures are up from £156m last year and £423m in 2018/19. RPC says that when regulated businesses commit serious failings, the FCA is prepared to levy severe…
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The Financial Ombudsman Service’s (FOS) expected cost base for 2022/23 will be £293.8million, an increase of 18% on the £249.4m levied for the current year. The FOS said it expects to fund this through a levy increase of £10 million to £106 million, as well as cuts to its cost base. A consultation on its…
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined HSBC Bank £63,946,800 for failings in its anti-money laundering (AML) processes. HSBC used automated processes to monitor hundreds of millions of transactions a month to identify possible financial crime. However, the FCA found that three key parts of HSBC’s transaction monitoring systems showed serious weaknesses over a period…
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