ITC - News & Insights

Consumer Finance Regulatory Priorities Report

ITC Compliance — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:45:00 GMT

The FCA has published a series of Regulatory Priorities Reports across the various financial services sectors. These reports try to put everything in one place for a sector, such as what the FCA has done and is going to do, growth and working with industry, publications, speeches, etc.

HMT consultation on the Appointed Representatives Regime

ITC Compliance — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:00:00 GMT

HMT has finally published its consultation on the AR Regime which first started under the previous Government in 2021, although to be fair this Government put out a high-level policy statement supporting the AR regime in August 2025 and so this consultation is a follow on from that. This is another example of the U-turns from the FCA and HMT supporting the growth and competitiveness agenda. ARs were getting bad publicity back in 2021, mainly due to David Cameron’s involvement in the Greensill scandal, where the only regulated bit of Greensill was an AR.

Enforcement investigation into CMC's

ITC Compliance — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:00:00 GMT

Whilst we await the final rules on the FCA’s motor finance compensation scheme, expected later this quarter, it is pleasing to note that the regulators are, albeit belatedly, taking action against some claims management companies (CMC) and law firms acting in this space.

Complaints reporting

ITC Compliance — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:15:00 GMT

The FCA has issued a Policy Statement entitled “Improving the Complaints Reporting Process” with changes to the complaints returns submitted by firms. These rules are effective from 1 January 2027, and ITC will be using 2026 to prepare for the changes and testing prototypes of the forms to be issued by the FCA. Hopefully by then motor finance commission complaints will be history!

Dealer fraud alert

ITC Compliance — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 10:30:00 GMT

We’re urging all dealers to stay alert.

Motor finance redress scheme consultation

ITC Compliance — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Following on from last month’s article on the subject, the FCA’s Motor Finance Redress Scheme Consultation is still dominating the headlines.

Banks don’t like it and have been increasing their provisions, whereas law firms, claims management companies and consumer organisations believe that consumers are being shortchanged by the proposals. Even the politicians cannot agree, with the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee grilling Nikhil Rathi and generally being on the side of the lenders, whereas the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Banking is on the side of consumers, and thinks there is a “£4.4bn billion gap” in the proposed scheme and accused the FCA of being “influenced by the profit margins of the lenders.”

It goes without saying that the FCA has a very difficult job in balancing these opposing views, and perhaps, albeit a bit tongue in cheek, if everyone is unhappy then at least the FCA may be able to claim that the scheme is “fair” !!

The FCA has now bowed to some of the pressure and extended the deadline to respond to the detailed consultation and analyse the extensive market wide data by 3 weeks to the 12th December.

Feedback that the FCA has so far received on the proposed scheme relates to:

FCA motor finance redress scheme consultation

ITC Compliance — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:00:00 GMT

The FCA has published its much-anticipated consultation on the industry-wide motor finance redress scheme. This follows the Johnson Supreme Court ruling and the Clydesdale case (one of the original FOS decisions which subsequently went to court) which found that customers had been treated unfairly. The FCA believes that a scheme is overall more efficient than millions of complaints going through complaints processes, FOS, or the courts. It has again reminded people that they don’t need to use a law firm or Claims Management Company (CMC) and could lose 30% of their redress to them if they do.

HM Treasury releases policy statement on Appointed Representative regime

ITC Compliance — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

HM Treasury has released a Policy Statement on the Appointed Representatives Regime.

Update on motor finance cases in Hopcraft, Johnson, and Wrench at the Supreme Court

ITC Compliance — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 04:30:00 GMT

On Friday 1st August, after the markets had closed, the Supreme Court announced it had overturned the Court of Appeal decisions in 2 out of the 3 motor finance commission cases in Hopcraft, Johnson, and Wrench.

Consumer Duty turns two

ITC Compliance — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 04:30:00 GMT

It continues to be the FCA’s flagship policy with its four outcomes driving a significant portion of the regulator’s work:

1. Products and Services: Ensuring that products are designed to meet the needs and objectives of a target group of customers.
2. Price and Value: Confirming consumers receive fair value for the products and services they purchase.
3. Consumer Understanding: Making sure that consumers can understand the products and services offered to them.
4. Consumer Support: Providing adequate support to consumers to help them make informed decisions.

ITC has helped the network embed the Consumer Duty into their businesses through the training of staff and embedding of systems and controls designed to meet the above outcomes.

Alongside the regulator’s new supporting growth objective, the broad reach of the Consumer Duty has enabled the FCA to review its existing rules and consider removing some of those that are no longer required.

One of the proposals suggests the removal of the additional rules for motor dealers around the sale of GAP Insurance, such as the two-day moratorium rule. These may no longer serve their purpose, given how the market has changed since these rules were first introduced 10 years ago. Following the changes made to the product after the FCA banned sales for a period in 2024, under the Consumer Duty, GAP Insurance must provide fair value to customers through whatever distribution channel they buy through. Therefore, we believe it is unfair to have rules adding unnecessary friction to sales by motor dealers.

Unsurprisingly, and as part of its ongoing support for network members, ITC has responded to this consultation on your behalf, very much supporting the removal of these rules.

Watch this space!