Industry welcomes FISA work with Consultants
Following on from my report that FISA is to bring in the consultants Impact Plus, there has been positive feedback from the industry.
Andrew Moody, managing director of LoanOptions, supported the move. He said: “FISA has done a very good job of helping industry to regulate itself, and it continues to demonstrate strong leadership during changing times.”
And Bob Sturges, director of communications at Money Partners, agreed: “FISA was the sector’s sincere and well-meaning attempt to add a degree of self-regulation when statutory regulation was not even on the agenda. It has served the industry well and it has done a good job.”
However, he believed the time was right for it to review its strategy. He said: “FISA needs to take a long hard look at is position and its future. To appoint an external adviser makes perfect sense, and its members and board should be commended for recognising that the market is changing.”
Commenting on previous industry calls for the secured loans market to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Moody said: “The regulation of the secured loans market will continue to raise its head but both the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the FSA seem to have ruled it out, at least for now.”
Sturges pointed to the increasing powers of the OFT in place of regulation by the FSA. He said: “The Consumer Credit Act 2006 considerably strengthened the powers of the OFT - the current regulator of secured loans. When the £25,000 threshold is s crapped in 2008 it means virtually all secured loans will be regulated.”
