Asset and motor finance board advisory services are now part of our wider offering to clients.  By partnering with IAA Advisory, this new service will help provide clear advice and independent insight, helping senior executives identify new business opportunities and act on them effectively. All board advisory consultants are highly experienced, senior individuals in the industry who are well versed in helping businesses navigate the complexities of strategy and the dynamics of industry change.

We have now launched ‘Auxillias Flex’, a flexible consultancy support service which provides clients with specialist advisors and consultants that can work as part of their team, whenever and wherever necessary.

The latest FCA Dear CEO letter, published on the 12 April 2024, is a reminder to motor finance firms to maintain adequate financial resources.

The pressure created by the 31 July 2023 Consumer Duty implementation deadline, on top of all the other challenges firms have faced, have meant that many firms may have found themselves preoccupied with ensuring that the core activities under their implementation plans have been fulfilled.

Hear Auxillias consultant, Frank Brown, provide tips on what to do as soon as you receive a Section 166 notice and how to manage the process to achieve a more favourable outcome.

Interactions with the regulator can take many forms – from participating in a thematic review, or receiving a tailored set of questions, to a full-blown s166 investigation. And in these interactions, firms seriously underestimate the extent to which their responses and actions will influence the outcome – both positively and negatively. Therefore, firms should take any regulator interaction seriously, seek professional advice where it is needed, and consider carefully the choices they make.

Caselaw in this area is prevalent and still mounting, and we have two further cases to report. The first one is Wrench v Firstrand Bank Ltd, and the other is Hurst v BMW Financial Services both cases were appealed by the Lenders and succeeded.

Whether or not your firm is directly subject to a s166 review initiated by the FCA in January in connection with historic discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs), if your firm is or may be affected by the issues, there are a range of very good reasons to get external advisors on board and supporting you right now.

If you have a pressing need for further support in light of the FCA review of historic commission arrangements, a critical compliance project that needs delivering or an unexpected senior vacancy in your team, we are in a position to support. A rare opportunity has arisen with one of our senior consultants now being available for an ongoing engagement or fixed term contract.

In this Consumer Duty Bulletin, we look at why the report needs to be done, what it should look like / must include and what firms should be doing in order to effectively report and meet the deadline.

Frank Brown has joined the Auxillias team as a redress and remediation consultant, primarily working with clients that are going through s166 Skilled Person reviews but also supporting the team that provides governance, risk and regulatory advice to businesses.

This quarter’s issue is jampacked and provides an update on recent commissions disclosure cases, the Financial Ombudsman Service’s expectations of businesses with reference to complaints, information on product sales data reporting, changes to the corporate crime attribution test in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, insights into more Consumer Duty (co-manufacturing and the next steps) and observations the FCA’s interpretation of the law on Limited Permission Credit Broking. And of course the biggy; on whether motor finance customers could now get compensation for non-disclosure of commission which we consider is the most important article.

The FCA reported (11 January 2024) that due to there being a high number of complaints in the motor finance industry and customers seeking compensation for commission disclosure arrangements, it is now considering whether customers could be owed compensation.

A massive thank you to our clients, partners and everyone else who has supported us over the past 12 months. Have an enjoyable and restful festive period. We look forward to working with you in 2024!

Over the last few months we have been monitoring the commission disclosure claims landscape and have put together a note to update you on the current position with reference to the different channels of claims, the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) and the legal court system.

Auxillias is proud to announce its selection for inclusion in the Chambers & Partners Consumer Finance UK rankings for 2024 – less than four years after it was founded in 2020.

Auxillias today announced that Joanna Taylor, a well-respected trainer in the industry, has joined its team to provide legal and business skills training to clients.

We are thrilled to announced that Business Today has named Jo Davis as one of the 'top ten influential consumer finance lawyers' in the UK!

We are thrilled to announce that our very own Joanne Davis won 'Car Finance Personality of the Year' at the Credit Strategy Car Finance Awards!

In this Consumer Duty Bulletin, we consider some of the recent and most useful publications and outreach work undertaken by the FCA to assist firms in understanding and implementing the Duty as we approach the April deadline. Download your copy!