Legal issues for the UK consumer finance industry
On 2 September 2019, the European Payments Council published a press release on the operational impacts of a “no deal” Brexit on credit transfers and direct debits from the Single Euro Payments Area.
The European Payments Council sets out steps which should be taken to prepare for a “no deal” Brexit. Firms should consider these steps as a matter of urgency.
On 4 September 2019, the Law Commission published a webpage summarising its findings following its report into the electronic execution of documents. The webpage includes a very useful summary of the law. This broadly says that electronic signatures are generally (except for some exceptions) lawful and do not need to be signed in a particular way. But there are more complications for deeds which must be signed in the presence of the witness.
The Law Commission has recommended setting up a working party to consider some practical solutions (for example, video witnessing of deeds) and a further review of the law on deeds.
You can download:
– the summary paper by clicking here; or
– the full report by clicking here.
On 4 September 2019, the UK Financial Conduct Authority published a webpage on ‘measuring culture’. This has always been considered to be a difficult topic to measure. But now three researchers at the London School of Economics have published their research suggesting how it can be measured.
The insight raises some interesting thoughts. It is important to remember that it has been published on the FCA’s website. Given culture is so important to the FCA, it’s therefore very likely the FCA will expect firms to give consideration to the researchers’ views and whether firms can manage and measure culture in their businesses.
On 2 September 2019, the UK Financial Conduct Authority published a new webpage on ‘strong customer authentication’ under the Payment Services Regulations 2017.
The webpage provides some useful insight into the FCA’s views on what firms should do, the use of eIDAS certificates and the impact (or not!) or Brexit.
On 3 September 2019, the Banking Standards Board published the final version of its statement of good practice on the certification regime and regulatory references under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime.
This statement provides some very useful guidance on the certification regime and regulatory references (including the thorny issue of what the reference must include).
We’ve recently updated a practice note, published by Practical Law and written by Russell Kelsall and Alanna Tregear, entitled: ‘What is the meaning of credit under the UK consumer credit regime?’. We’ve updated it to consider the High Court’s recent decision in CFL Finance Limited v Bass & Others [2019] EWHC 1839 (Ch).
If you’re a subscriber to Practical Law, you can visit the practice note by clicking here or by visiting: https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-005-5092.