The Industry View

Starting on a positive note, congratulations to Lisa Pryde on being promoted to Chief Operating Officer at Debt Support Service. Congratulations to Ecospend (Trustly). HMRC’s open banking payments via Ecospend has hit £10.5 billion.  The closure of the acquisition by Trustly was confirmed this week. Trustly and Ecospend together become the leading Open Banking payments company in the UK, featuring connectivity with over 80 banks and a reach of approximately 50m consumers. Link: https://www.altfi.com/article/10339_hmrcs-open-banking-payments-via-ecospend-hit-105bn Link:… Read more

Starting on a positive note, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has stated that inflation is likely to fall rapidly during 2023 as energy prices fall. The pace of price rises in the UK has been slowing slightly, standing at 10.5% in the year to December 2022. Food prices, however, remain high. Markets predict interest rates will peak at 4.5% and the Bank is not steering them away from that figure. Financial markets now expect… Read more

General update UK Finance has published its first economic insight of 2023. Link: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/economic-insight/monthly-economic-insight-january-2023 Caroline Siarkiewicz, CEO at MaPS, was on Good Morning Britain this week around the cost-of-living crisis and the support available. On 12 January, MaPS issued a press release stating that over 12m people are now borrowing money for food or essential bills and half of them are doing so for the first time in their lives. The survey of 2,180 UK… Read more

General update I produced a horizon scan (attached) just before the New Year that has been posted on LinkedIn. I have read the forecast by Chris Warburton and a more technical view from Ollie Boreham on CX developments in 2023. FourNet partner, PCI Pal, has also provided their predictions around payment and security trends in 2023. Both PCI Pal and Ecospend featured in major projects at HMRC when I was a Programme Manager in 2021.… Read more

In today’s bulletin General updateReforming the Consumer Credit ActInsolvency stats – November 2022FCA quarterly consultation paper 38 – covering Consumer DutyEvents General update There was a nice post from the CSA around Matt Subert’s funeral on 14 December 2022 featuring a special photo of Matt and Peter Wallwork. As Peter reflected, his family and friends gave Matt a really good send-off with some great eulogies and conversation afterwards, recounting all kinds of memories and stories… Read more

General update The FCA has set out ways that mortgage firms can help customers worried about or already struggling with their mortgage payments as a result of the cost-of-living squeeze. This is relevant to the DEMSA deficit budget response (attached) to MaPS where the reduction in mortgage repayments may enable a deficit budget to be converted into a surplus budget with careful thought. The FCA is consulting on draft guidance explaining a range of options… Read more