Five final notices issued by the Financial Conduct Authority to dealers this month could be the “first of many”, warns iVendi.
James Tew (pictured), chief executive at the online motor finance specialist, points to the reason given by the FCA - “failing to be open and co-operative in the consumer credit sector” – as an indication of a new era of motor finance regulation.
“To some extent, we have been in a holding pattern since the new FCA consumer credit regime came into effect but, with this first wave of motor dealer notices, we are very much seeing the regulator get down to business,” he said.
“Issuing five in a short period of time is, compared to the old system of regulation, actually quite a high number and could be a signal of intent.
“We believe the FCA is possibly setting out its stall and these could be the first of many.”
Tew said that news about the notices should serve as a warning to dealers that they have no choice but to ensure their motor finance procedures are compliant.
“Even at this stage, we are coming across dealers pretty regularly who have not really got their head around all the implications of providing customers with meaningful choice, accurate information and consistency across their organisation.
“We have been identifying these as part of the work we are doing to use the iVendi Platform to help with FCA compliance, adopting our existing technology to make the tracking and recording of customer behavior much easier for dealers.”
Jeremy has been a journalist for 30 years, 20 of which have been in business-to-business automotive. He was a writer and news editor on AM-sister brand Fleet News for three years before setting up the AM website. For the last five years he has been Bauer B2B’s head of digital helping to manage the digital assets of AM, together with Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail and Smart Transport.
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