CCTA Annual Conference 2024

Commentary | 10/10/24

Last week we held our annual conference at the Radisson Blu, Manchester airport.

In keeping with recent tradition, we held our member dinner the night before the conference. Our dinner provided the opportunity for attendees to catch up with colleagues from across the sector and discuss relevant issues in a relaxed setting.

Conference kicked off the next morning with our Chair, Mark Fiander welcoming delegates to this year’s event. Jason Wassell, CEO, then provided an update on the work of the association and covered some of the topics that would be discussed during the day. We also got a presentation on our learning and development portal, CCTA Academy, from Naveed Asif.

Walker Morris presented on the current regulatory structure and questioned where ultimate authority might lie. A thought-provoking session.

We were then joined by a knowledgeable range of panellists for our session on access to credit. Fair4all Finance talked about their recent research in this area, while the FCA said there is a place for high-cost credit within responsible lending. Chris Pond from the Financial Inclusion Commission talked about their campaign for the FCA to have regard for financial inclusion. It was widely agreed that the commercial sector has a role to play in ensuring access.

That session was followed by Robert McKechnie of Equifax UK delivering a keynote presentation on what the CRA sector is currently seeing in consumer credit. CCTA members are always interested to see trends and insights from the wider sector.

Our last panel sessions of the day focused on the regulatory environment and the alternative lending customer. The regulatory panel talked about the implementation of the Consumer Duty, the current review of the motor finance market, and further changes expected in 2025.

The consumer panel looked at the demographics of borrowers and why they need the products offered by CCTA members. Assessing vulnerability and how to help those struggling was also discussed.

The last session of the day kicked off with a keynote speech from Square 4 Partners on how to take on complacency within firms. The presentation looked at areas businesses should be reviewing often to ensure continuous improvement- especially with the Consumer Duty framework now in place.

For our final keynote speech, we heard from Alex MacDonald of the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is always important for industry to engage with the Ombudsman, so it was great to them as part of the agenda once again. Alex shared some updated from the Ombudsman before questions from the audience.

It was once again a packed agenda with lots of topics up for discussion. We would like to thank all our speakers and panellists, along with our sponsors for supporting the event. Thanks also to those that were able to attend on the day. We are already thinking about how the discussions play into the work of the association in the coming months.

As always, if there is something you want to discuss contact the team.