Claro Wellbeing has been selected to speak as part of a panel at Westminster Business Forum on the ‘Next Steps for Consumer Duty’ this Friday (June 9).
Galina Barengo, our Head of Partnerships and Chief of Staff, will give an overview of the challenges financial services could face with adapting to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new rules and how they can be integrated into their culture and practice, before taking questions from the floor.
Galina joins other senior and influential leaders in the policy space including Sarah Montgomery, Head of Consumer Policy and Outcomes at the FCA, Mick McAteer, founder of the Financial Inclusion Centre, and Professor Laura Feldman, barrister and lecturer in private law at the University of Oxford.
As part of Claro Wellbeing’s mission to improve the nation’s financial wellbeing, we’ve been supporting financial services in their Consumer Duty compliance and helping them put their customers first. We are also an affiliate member of the Consumer Duty Alliance, to help promote good practice and raise standards in the industry.
We recently partnered with Channel 4’s UNTOLD to commission a study into the rise of debt due to purchases of luxury items, ahead of the introduction of the Consumer Duty.
The research found that more than one in five (21%) 16-34 year olds are taking out credit monthly, and one in 10 are using it weekly or more often to fund purchases of ‘Drip’ or luxury items, such as expensive trainers, designer clothes and jewellery.
In addition, 30% of young people surveyed have missed a credit card or Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment. The new Consumer Duty rules will further protect consumers before they take out financial products, as the consequences of missed repayments can be severe, leading to spiralling debt.
Galina will be speaking on Friday 9 June in the 11.15am session. For more information on the event, and the speakers, see here.
The Westminster Business Forum is a division of Westminster Forum Projects (WFP), a private company with origins in the Westminster Parliament, which organises impartial and cross-party seminars on public policy.