Majority of UK consumers unable to define cryptocurrency, City watchdog finds March 7, 2019 More than 70 per cent of UK consumers do not know what a cryptocurrency is, new research has found, as the City watchdog warned that crypto investors should be prepared to lose all their money. The term cryptocurrency, which is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography coding for security, is understood by 29 [...]
Regulator warns consumers over illegal cryptocurrency scam March 6, 2019 UK consumers have been warned to avoid an illegal cryptocurrency firm posing as an authorised company. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Next Coin Market is an fraudulent organisation based in Bulgaria which is attempting to scam UK customers. Read more: JP Morgan launches its own cryptocurrency The company dupes victims by sending customers a [...]
Financial Conduct Authority issues warning to high cost lending firms March 6, 2019 The City watchdog has warned that high-cost lending firms must take action to protect customers from risk. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said companies that offer credit to consumers that may be rejected by mainstream banks must be aware of customers that display patterns of relending, which could be a symptom of unsustainable borrowing patterns. [...]
The Innovative Finance Isa didn’t get off to a flying start – so how’s it doing now? March 6, 2019 When the Innovative Finance Isa and its not-so-catchy acronym, IFISA, entered the scene back in April 2016, it’s fair to say that it didn’t get off to a great start. This was partly because, compared to its Isa cousins, the IFISA didn’t get much publicity (admittedly, the UK was two months away from the EU referendum, [...]
Provident Financial resolves regulation issues with City watchdog March 6, 2019 Doorstep lender Provident Financial has said it has "substantially resolved" recent regulatory issues as it revealed that it has hired a new boss to lead its Vanquis Bank business. The company, which has rejected a £1.3bn takeover bid from rival Non-Standard Finance (NSF), revealed that the Vanquis refund programme was more than 99 per cent [...]
Financial Conduct Authority confirms rent-to-own price cap implementation March 5, 2019 A price cap on the cost of buying household goods through rent-to-own deals will be introduced next month, the City watchdog has confirmed. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which announced a crackdown on the sector in November last year, has set a price cap of 100 per cent on the interest customers can be charged in a move [...]
Ex-Which magazine director joins Financial Conduct Authority board March 4, 2019 The former executive director of Which magazine, Richard Lloyd, will become a non-executive director of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 April, it was announced today. His term at the FCA, which is the independent conduct regulator for 58,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, will last three years. Read [...]
Ranked: The high street banks with the most IT outages March 4, 2019 UK banks are suffering IT outages or security failures at a rate of more than one a day, new figures from the financial watchdog have revealed. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now requires banks to publish information on IT failures. Read more: Barclays down: Banking app outage hits customers Analysis conducted by Which found there [...]
Financial Conduct Authority may intervene to prevent excessive motor finance costs March 4, 2019 Britain’s markets watchdog is considering banning certain methods lenders use to reward car retailers that cost consumers £300m a year. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it found widespread use of commission models which allow brokers discretion to set the customer interest rate and thus earn higher commission, which can lead to customers paying “significantly [...]
City watchdog under fire for delaying report into RBS’s GRG unit February 28, 2019 The City watchdog has been accused of delaying a report into its controversial decision not to enforce action against individuals within RBS's disgraced global restructuring unit GRG. One MP has said he expects the report to be a "whitewash" when it is published. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) caused widespread dismay last year when it [...]