Legal and regulatory advice for the Consumer Retail Finance sector

The Consumer Finance sector continues to experience significant regulatory change. We understand that you need to be on top of complex regulatory issues as they develop if you are to be able to focus on providing innovative products and services to market quickly and efficiently and in line with regulators’  expectations.  We can also help you ensure that you are able to meet customer expectations to provide smooth and user-friendly customer journeys throughout a product life-cycle, while managing the risks in portfolios.

We have one of the largest teams focusing on Consumer Finance both in the UK and in Europe. Our multi-disciplinary team consists of financial services lawyers and experienced regulatory consultants. The team includes former senior in-house lawyers as well as lawyers and regulatory consultants who have previously worked at the regulators; this means we have a deep understanding of both business requirements and regulators’ expectations of regulated firms.

We are also one of a small number of law firms appointed to the FCA’s skilled persons’ panel to undertake s166 reviews in relation to governance, controls and risk, conduct of business and financial crime.

We advise financial institutions and businesses of all sizes, from established large retail banks, to newer businesses only just out of the start-up phase, including:

• retail and commercial banks
• private banks
• specialist arms of investment banks
• building societies
• “challenger” banks
• mortgage lenders, brokers and administrators
• motor finance provider arms of a number of major car manufacturers
• credit card issuers
• merchant acquirers
• payment services providers
• asset financiers
• overseas financial institutions offering products and services to UK customers from overseas and through UK subsidiaries and introducers
• unregulated firms wishing to engage with finance providers to broaden the range of financial services they may offer to their customers or for employee benefit packages

We have knowledge of key product areas including unsecured and secured lending, savings and protection, mortgages, life and pensions products, investments, current accounts, rental and hire agreements and insurance, and would be interested in engaging with you to understand your issues and how we can help. 

Helping you respond to market-wide changes

We have also assisted a number of clients with developing their responses to market-wide changes, including implementation of European legislation such as the Mortgage Credit Directive, FCA Handbook rule changes, and wider issues such as the cessation of LIBOR and preparations for Brexit and the UK government’s plans for post-Brexit financial services regulation of cross-border products and services.

Experienced Consumer Finance Lawyers

Our Consumer Finance team is also committed to thought leadership, with members participating in committees of industry bodies, speaking regularly at industry events, commenting in the press and contributing to academic and professional publications. We can offer tailored training to help you discharge your continued professional development regulatory obligations and ensure your staff remain up-to-date with the latest regulatory and market developments.  For larger projects we also work closely with Konexo, our Managed Service legal provider, where we can leverage a range of experience and efficiencies of scale for large-scale processing of time-limited regulatory projects.