Blogs

ICO Blog – How the ICO Innovation Hub is enabling innovation and economic growth through cross-regulatory collaboration

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The latest blog from the ICO covers the impact of the ICO innovation hub.click here for details...

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CCTA COMMENT: FCA – Christopher Woolard to chair review of unsecured credit market regulation

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The below Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announcement details that Chris Woolard the FCA Interim CEO, until the recent appointment of Nikhil Rathi as the new CEO, will chair a far-reaching review of the unsecured lending market that will have implications for many CCTA members. Woolard has been instrumental in guiding the harsh regulation that takes little notice of the size of loan compared to the risk to the consumer, or the size of the risk to firms if they are hit by bogus claims. We have seen market interference on a grand scale, outside of the Banks, which is now taking...

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The five key risks COVID-19 has brought to your business and what to do about them

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On 28 May it was announced that in the UK all non-essential retail stores in England will be allowed to re-open from 15 June, on the proviso they are ‘COVID secure’. The Prime Minister also confirmed that open air outdoor markets and car showrooms can open from 1 June. While this easing of lockdown restrictions is undoubtedly good news for retailers and suppliers, most of whose businesses will have been hit hard by being unable to trade as usual for the past two months, reopening under social distancing rules now brings a whole new set of challenges. The impact lockdown has already...

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Latest ONS employment figures highlight growing need for short-term credit

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The latest employment figures from the Office of National Statistics published earlier this week,  have reported an unexpected increase in the unemployment rate to 3.9% in the June-to-August period after the number of people in work fell by 56,000. The combined effects of a global slowdown, political uncertainty and Brexit have impacted high street retail jobs and the manufacturing sector where a number of redundancies have taken place. As Brexit-related uncertainty has continued, many firms are deferring significant hiring and investment decisions, so a softening of the labour market could well be expected to continue in the short term, at...

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Personal finances in the UK have “sunk to all time lows”

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10.5 million Britons are in the worst financial position of their lives New research commissioned by FairMoney.com has revealed that an astounding 10.5 million Britons are in the worst financial position of their lives. The research, entitled 'Brexit Broke Me' has also found that over half of Britons (53%) have disposable incomes of less than £0. This is a dire situation for many households as the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not's’ is increasingly widening and the aggressive nature of current regulation forces more consumers into financial hardship by default. The outlook for the 9,000 Thomas Cook former employees...

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Business as Unusual

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Any belief that the summer holidays and time away would ease the political logjam that is Brexit has floundered before Parliament returns on 3rd September, and with it any reasonable hope that constructive discussions could begin with Government Departments, on the business issues of the day. Suspending Parliament just days after MP’s return to the House, with only a few weeks before the Brexit deadline, serves only a group of Politicians. It also moves us closer to a General Election with a real bugger’s muddle likely, and the possibility of a hotchpotch of a rudderless Coalition Government with a narrow...

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CCTA responds to the FCA’s Alternatives to High cost Credit Report

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This week, the FCA published a report on the alternatives to high-cost credit (HCC) and set out the actions and recommendations to improve the availability and awareness of those seeking an alternative to HCC. The report also notes that ‘the consideration of access to alternatives to high‑cost credit will become an integral part of the FCA’s overall work in the credit sector, reflecting the part alternatives can play in improving consumer outcomes.’ Yet, while the FCA’s intentions are understandably well meant, a scan of the publication suggests little more than a sprinkling of motherhood and apple pie, and questionable...

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FCA Performance: Meeting expectations or requires improvement?

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has come under the cosh of late and this showed no signs of abating last week when Chief Executive, Andrew Bailey and Chair, Charles Randell appeared in front of the Treasury Select Committee to present a biannual report on the work of the FCA. Chair, Nicky Morgan crushingly asked if “anyone at the FCA read the papers?”[1] She then questioned Andrew Bailey on why the City regulator didn't act sooner after a press article reported on  Neil Woodford’s use of Guernsey's stock exchange to avoid breaching fund rules on unquoted stocks. CM Direct, the firm owned by Gina Miller and her husband Alan, have also...

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Record number of people contacting StepChange Debt Charity in 2018

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The new StepChange Debt Charity 2018 Statistics Yearbook published 3 April reveals the ever-increasing scale of demand for debt help in the UK. The charity received 657,930 new contacts in 2018, up from 619,946 in 2017. Around 60% of new contacts to the charity are now online, with around 40% by telephone. Source: StepChangeGO TO ARTICLE +...

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