In Focus Consumer Credit


Looking forward


The coming plan will focus on key deliverables and a risk-based approach


David Pickering Chief executive, the Lending Standards Board davidpickering@lstdb.org.uk


I have written extensively in the past year about the development and launch of the Standards of Lending Practice, so I thought I would now take a look forward, sharing with you our vision, mission and aims, and how we plan to achieve them. Taking into account the opportunities,


challenges and the dynamic and evolving environment we operate in, our 2017-2020 business plan details areas that we will focus on in the next three years and the key actions we will take to ensure that personal and business customers are adequately protected. Some of the highlights from our business


plan include: continuing our work with firms and the industry to ensure the Standards of Lending Practice continue to evolve; seeking to increase the number of registered firms by moving into other sectors and bringing in other products under our remit; increasing external engagement through thought leadership in support of our becoming the leader in voluntary self-regulation for conduct of financial-services business; developing partnerships with stakeholders and continuing to work with the FCA. Underpinning this activity are three key


elements: maintaining our independence; adding value to our registered firms; and seeking the right outcomes for both personal and small business customers.


Key deliverables Of course, one of the plan’s key deliverables will be how we ensure that our core work – the oversight of the Standards of Lending Practice – is delivered effectively and that the standards become established across all registered firms. Launched in July 2016 for personal


customers and in March 2017 for business customers, the standards represented a move away from rules-based regulation to one of high level principles and consumer outcomes, underpinned by a set of standards that firms should aim to achieve, but leaving them with flexibility in how they might do this, placing the emphasis on the outcome rather than complying with a process. Our oversight strategy places greater


reliance on a firm’s internal governance and we assess every firm to gain an understanding of its risk management framework, its oversight arrangements, and its internal monitoring and assurance capability. The approach is collaborative and


proactive, greatly reducing the burden on firms, is proportionate to the risk presented, yet is robust and independent. Enhancing what we do to add value to


our firms has been the development of our insight and support framework designed to offer additional, bespoke help to organisations


Our oversight strategy places greater reliance on a firm’s internal governance and we assess every firm to gain an understanding of its risk management framework


in respect of training, call calibration and benchmarking. Furthermore, in support of our research and development workstream, we are keen to continue to engage with our firms and the wider industry to discuss current and important topics via roundtable events that are aimed at identifying new areas for inclusion in the standards. Given that one of our aims is enhancing


consumer protection, extending the reach of the standards into new sectors and bringing more products within scope is essential. We are planning to extend product scope this year for the business standards and this will broaden the range of firms to which the standards are applicable. Our aim is to increase the number of registered firms, particularly many of the new challenger banks and start-ups, and debt collection and debt-purchase firms. So, overall, the 2017-2020 business plan


creates a balancing act for us, combining the requirement for ensuring we deliver on all of our priorities, the need for us to be flexible and agile, and extending the reach of our work. We look forward to providing further


updates to the industry on how successful we have been at achieving this. CCR


16 www.CCRMagazine.co.uk September 2017


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