Comment Archive

In July, rules came into force designed to curb the worst excesses of the payday lending industry. In particular the FCA limited the ability of payday lenders to ‘roll over’ customers into new...

This is the term used to describe any smaller bank which ‘challenges’ the big 6 (Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds, Nationwide and Santander) for business. Increasingly borrowers are turning to challenger...

The Chief Executive of the FCA has issued a number of statements recently which all hang, more or less, on his mansion house speech last October, so it is worth noting some of his comments. ‘Many...

‘Where are the frontiers between execution only on the one hand and full advice on the other?’ So queried the CEO of the country’s financial regulator, Martin Wheatley. It would be reasonable to...

Bitcoins are a peer to peer payment system and digital currency. They are created by a process called ‘mining’ in which computer network participants verify and record payments into a public ledger...

When the Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie asked FCA CEO Martin Wheatley “do you believe that financial advice can be delivered online without human intervention?” he was probably...

The FCA has published its final guidance on inducements. There is nothing earth shaking in it and it is rather long for what it is, but it should actually give reassurance rather than cause angst....

Currently there are 10 million people over 65 in this country which is 1 in 6 of the population. In 20 years time, this is expected to have risen to 15 million or 1 in 4 of the population. Of the 10...

Last July the Government rejected an amendment to the Care Bill that would have forced local authorities to refer people who are in need of long term care to regulated financial advisers. Instead of...

The UK is bidding to become a world hub for Islamic finance with the launch of a £200 million Sharia bond early next year. The government hopes that this will encourage Islamic investment into all...