City watchdog ‘nakedly’ siding with lenders on car finance redress, MPs say
The City regulator has “nakedly taken the side of lenders” in its planned compensation scheme for car loan victims and has been “patently influenced” by concerns over profits, a group of cross-party MPs have claimed.The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Banking joined a growing chorus of critics concerned about the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposed redress scheme, which is meant to compensate borrowers who were overcharged as a result of commission arrangements between lenders and car dealers.The APPG’s latest report has accused the regulator of buying into “doom-mongering” by lenders who claim that a large compensation bill would risk spooking investors and causing lasting damage to the UK economy.That was at the expense of car loan victims who they said were due up to £15.6bn, rather than the £8.
2bn-£9,7bn currently forecast in the FCA’s scheme, which the APPG said was based on estimates produced by the regulator in 2019,The MPs also warned that the scheme hinged on overly complex calculations that lenders could exploit while acting as “judge and jury” on their former customer’s claims,“Rather than siding with consumers in deciding the levels of redress, the regulator appears to have nakedly taken the side of lenders, working to protect their profit margins rather than the pockets of consumers,” the report says,“Time and again in its consultation document the FCA warns how ‘higher [redress] costs to firms could dent profit margins’ or ‘higher costs to lenders in this scenario could have knock-on impacts on lender profit margins’.
These warnings all follow the same basic pattern: a warning about profits, caveated with the risk to the market of lenders withdrawing their products and hitting consumer choice.”Banks are due to pay out £700 per claim on average under the FCA’s proposals, which the APPG says is far less than the £1,500 average payout that some could receive by taking their cases to court.However, banks and the FCA have warned that borrowers who use claims firms to take their cases to court may end up losing up to 30% of their compensation in legal fees.Lenders and lobby groups have for months warned that a massive bill could deter investors, force some lenders to fold, or raise borrowing costs for consumers as lenders try to recoup their costs.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, attempted to intervene in a landmark supreme court hearing in January when she urged judges to avoid handing “windfall” compensation to borrowers.
At that point, lenders including Lloyds, Barclays, Close Brothers and the financial arms of manufacturers such as Ford were steeling themselves for a compensation bill worth up to £44bn.A supreme court case in August brought further clarity and significantly brought down the regulator’s estimates of the potential compensation bill.Lenders have continued to lobby against the £11bn bill, which accounts for administrative costs.Last week Santander UK’s chief executive, Mike Regnier, called for further interventions by ministers, claiming the FCA’s current proposals could end up inflicting “significant” harm to consumers, jobs and the broader economy.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe APPG member and Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh suggested that those lobbying efforts had seeped into the FCA’s proposals.
“Our core finding is that the FCA has patently been influenced by the profit margins of the lenders when deciding upon levels of redress,” she said.“From proposing that lenders act as judge and jury on their own cases, to the extraordinarily low compensatory interest rate on offer, the scheme acts against the interests of the consumer and markedly favours sector interests,” McDonagh, who separately serves as a member of the Treasury committee, added.“Ultimately, this report comes to a clear and unambiguous conclusion – the redress scheme as proposed is not fit for purpose.”The FCA said in a statement: “We have proposed a scheme to fairly compensate motor finance customers in a timely and efficient way.We recognise that there will be a wide range of views on the scheme and not everyone will get everything they would like.
But we want to work together on the best possible scheme and draw a line under this issue quickly,“That certainty is vital, so a trusted motor finance market can continue to serve millions of families every year,”The Financing and Leasing Association was contacted for comment,
Franc, Canterbury, Kent: ‘Just great, great cooking’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
Certain new restaurants I’m lured to semi-hypnotically, so rumours a few months back of an impending new venture from Dave Hart and Polly Pleasence slotted straight on to my “I’ll be there!” list. I still remember a long lunch seven years ago at their previous venture, the Folkestone Wine Company, where a piece of perfect pan-fried hake fillet topped with luscious squid and a zesty gremolata had me actually gasping with happiness. This was truly great cooking.And I knew who the chef was, too, because I could see him through a hatch cooking my lunch while I sipped my appassimento. Hart has worked for Stephen Harris at The Sportsman near Whitstable, and over the years has run several other places all across Kent
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I recently invested in a beautifully wide, Shropshire-made pan that works on the hob and in the oven with equal ease, and without the chemical nonstick lining I keep reading about. It is a brilliant pan. As I turn on the heat to crisp the skin on my chicken thighs on the stove top, I can prep the vegetables I will then roast in the same pan. There is a soothing rhythm to this type of cooking, where most of the work is done in the oven. Here, I use jerusalem artichokes, the most delicious of autumn vegetables, parboiled in lemon juice to make them more digestible and then roasted with garlic and onions, until beautifully caramelised, and it’s a marvellous thing to put down on the kitchen table
From fritters to pizza, there’s more to pumpkin season than soups and carving
G’day! The last time I wrote to you was in the midst of our Australian winter, as the wind tippity-tapped tree-branch morse code on the windows and I tried to summon spring with the might of several tins of summer tomatoes and some inspiration from the Feast recipe archives.Well, allegedly, our spring has sprung, though you wouldn’t be able to tell, seeing as one of the challenges – or joys – of living in Melbourne is that this city’s concept of “seasons” is a little more fluid than most. Blustery winds have kept the trees dancing, wreaking havoc on the darling buds of May – sorry, October – and sending enthusiastically woven “cobwebs” and other Halloween paraphernalia flying.But I can guess which vegetable is going to be on your supermarket shelf, no matter which side of the international date line you are on: pumpkin! This is the time of year when European eaters are reaching for pumpkins to make soups and curries, while many across the Atlantic are mostly just carving them up. So, how to find more things to do with pumpkin than souping or sculpting? It helps to remember that pumpkin is also known as winter squash – and what’s summer squash? Courgettes or, as I say, zucchini
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for ginger biscuit s’mores | The sweet spot
What’s Bonfire Night without some toasty, gooey marshmallows? And it’s only right to have them in a s’more, the American classic that’s also now part of the festivities over on this side of the pond. Digestive biscuits are typically the go-to, but I like to add extra flavour, depth and texture by using ginger oaty biscuits instead. These are quick to put together and don’t require any chilling. Ideally, the s’mores would be made over a real fire, but a blowtorch or hot grill will do the job, too.Prep 5 min Cook 30 min Makes 9100g unsalted butter 25g honey 130g plain flour 120g caster sugar 45g oats 2 tsp ground ginger ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp salt 9 squares dark chocolate 9 marshmallows Flaky sea saltHeat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and line two oven trays with baking paper
How to turn pastry scraps into a quick and tasty caramelised onion tart – recipe | Waste not
This is my quick version of pissaladière, and it transforms a small amount of leftover pastry scraps into a spontaneous treat. Keep and combine any trimmings into a ball and re-roll as and when required. Pastry keeps well in the freezer, and by skipping two time-consuming steps in the traditional recipe – that is, making the pastry and caramelising the onions – this one comes together about an hour faster. Instead, the onions are cooked upside down, steaming and caramelising beneath a blanket of pastry with anchovies and black olives for a fast, fun twist on a French classic. And if you have less pastry, you can always halve the recipe
Australian supermarket chocolate ice-cream taste test: ‘My scorecard read simply: “I’m going to buy it”’
Sweet memory lane or boulevard of broken creams? Nicholas Jordan and friends sample 23 tubs in search of nostalgia, glee and chocolate excessIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI grew up in a house barren of treats – there was no regular supply of chocolate, snakes, sour lollies or caramels. There was one exception: ice-cream, and I was mostly free to eat it whenever I wanted. That constant, childhood joy was the start of a storied love affair. Later, when I had money to buy my lunch in high school, I would get a one-litre tub, a pair of spoons, and my friend and I would eat the entire thing and nothing else. Sometimes, if we were particularly greedy, we’d split a two-litre tub
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