Is a lender, in the United Kingdom

Consumer Credit Act 1974 (c. 39), ss. 158 and 159 · Read the law's page

• If you are a credit reference agency, give a consumer that asks in writing, supplies particulars enabling you to identify the file and pays the fee, a copy of the file you keep on that consumer within the prescribed period, in plain English (section 158(1) and (5)).
• If you are a credit reference agency, give the consumer, with the copy of the file, a statement in the prescribed form of the consumer's rights under section 159 (section 158(2)).
• If you are a credit reference agency and keep no file relating to the consumer, give the consumer notice of that fact (section 158(3)).
• If you are a credit reference agency and an individual who considers that an entry in the file is incorrect and likely to prejudice the individual gives you notice, inform the individual within 28 days that you have removed the entry, amended it or taken no action (section 159(1) and (2)).
• If you are a credit reference agency and the objector serves a further notice, add to the file an accompanying notice of correction of not more than 200 words and include a copy of it when furnishing information based on that entry, or tell the objector within 28 days that you intend to comply or apply to the relevant authority (section 159(3) to (5)).

Consumer Credit Act 1974, c. 39, s. 157 · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you operate as a creditor under a prospective regulated agreement, meaning the person providing credit under a consumer credit agreement, including the prospective creditor, where the agreement is a regulated agreement and is not an excluded agreement (a consumer hire agreement or an agreement secured on land): when you decide not to proceed with it on the basis of information you obtained from a credit reference agency, inform the debtor, when telling the debtor of the decision, that the decision was reached on the basis of information from a credit reference agency, and provide the debtor with the particulars of the agency, including its name, address and telephone number (Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 157(A1), (4); section 189).
• In any other case, when a debtor or hirer asks you in writing, give notice of the name and address of any credit reference agency from which you applied for information about their financial standing during the antecedent negotiations, within seven working days after you receive the request (Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 157(1); Consumer Credit (Credit Reference Agency) Regulations 2000, regulation 3); the duty does not apply to a request received more than 28 days after the antecedent negotiations ended (section 157(2)).

PRA Rulebook, Fundamental Rule 5 · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you are a firm to which the Fundamental Rules Part of the PRA Rulebook applies. The Part applies to all firms unless otherwise stated, and the Fundamental Rules apply with respect to the carrying on of regulated activities, dealing in investments as principal and ancillary activities in relation to PRA-regulated activities, wherever those activities are carried on. Fundamental Rule 5 also applies to unregulated activities, but only in a prudential context, and takes into account any activity of other members of a group of which the firm is a member.
• A firm must have effective risk strategies and risk management systems (Fundamental Rule 5).

FCA Handbook, SYSC 4.1 · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you are a firm to which the common platform requirements apply, which is every firm apart from an insurer, a UK ISPV, a managing agent and the Society unless a specific rule provides otherwise (SYSC 1 Annex 1 2.1R): have robust governance arrangements, which include a clear organizational structure with well defined, transparent and consistent lines of responsibility, effective processes to identify, manage, monitor and report the risks you are or might be exposed to, and internal control mechanisms, including sound administrative and accounting procedures and effective control and safeguard arrangements for information processing systems (SYSC 4.1.1R(1)).
• If you are a common platform firm, make the arrangements, processes and mechanisms in SYSC 4.1.1R comprehensive and proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the risks inherent in your business model and activities (SYSC 4.1.2R).
• If you are a common platform firm, have sound security mechanisms in place, while maintaining the confidentiality of the data at all times, to guarantee the security and authentication of the means of transfer of information, to minimise the risk of data corruption and unauthorised access, and to prevent information leakage (SYSC 4.1.1R(3)).
• If you are a common platform firm, taking into account the nature, scale and complexity of your business, establish, implement and maintain decision-making procedures and an organizational structure that specifies reporting lines and allocates functions and responsibilities, adequate internal control mechanisms designed to secure compliance with decisions and procedures at all levels, effective internal reporting and communication of information at all relevant levels, and adequate and orderly records of your business and internal organization (SYSC 4.1.1-AR(1)).
• If you are a common platform firm, establish, implement and maintain systems and procedures that are adequate to safeguard the security, integrity and confidentiality of information, taking into account the nature of the information in question (SYSC 4.1.1-AR(2)).
• If you are a common platform firm, establish, implement and maintain an adequate business continuity policy aimed at ensuring, if your systems and procedures are interrupted, the preservation of essential data and functions and the maintenance of your designated investment business or, where that is not possible, the timely recovery of such data and functions and the timely resumption of that business, and take reasonable steps to ensure continuity and regularity in the performance of your regulated activities (SYSC 4.1.1-AR(3) and SYSC 4.1.6R).
• If you are a common platform firm, monitor and, on a regular basis, evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of your systems, internal control mechanisms and arrangements, and take appropriate measures to address any deficiencies (SYSC 4.1.1-AR(5)).
• If you are a firm other than a common platform firm or a sole trader with no employee who must be approved under section 59 of the Act, taking into account the nature, scale and complexity of your business, establish, implement and maintain adequate internal control mechanisms designed to secure compliance with decisions and procedures at all levels of the firm and effective internal reporting and communication of information at all relevant levels (SYSC 4.1.4R(2) and (3)).

FCA Handbook, SYSC 6.1.1R and 6.1.4AR · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you are a firm to which the common platform requirements apply, which is every firm apart from an insurer, a UK ISPV, a managing agent and the Society unless a specific rule provides otherwise (SYSC 1 Annex 1 2.1R): establish, implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures sufficient to ensure compliance of the firm, including its managers, employees and appointed representatives, with its obligations under the regulatory system and for countering the risk that the firm might be used to further financial crime (SYSC 6.1.1R).
• If you are a firm which is not a common platform firm or management company and you carry on designated investment business with or for retail clients or professional clients, allocate to a director or senior manager the function of having responsibility for oversight of your compliance and of reporting to the governing body in respect of that responsibility (SYSC 6.1.4AR).

FCA Handbook, CONC 5.2A · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you operate as a firm with respect to consumer credit lending, other than under an agreement in which you take an article in pawn on the terms described in CONC 5.2A.2R(1), a current account agreement that may allow the account-holder to overdraw without a pre-arranged overdraft or to exceed a pre-arranged overdraft limit where doing so would be a regulated credit agreement (overrunning), a non-commercial agreement, or a small borrower-lender-supplier agreement which is a restricted-use credit agreement: undertake a reasonable assessment of the creditworthiness of a customer before entering into a regulated credit agreement, significantly increasing the amount of credit provided under one, or significantly increasing a credit limit for running-account credit under one, and do not take that step unless you can demonstrate that you have done so in accordance with CONC 5.2A and had proper regard to the outcome in respect of affordability risk (CONC 5.2A.1R, 5.2A.2R, 5.2A.4R, 5.2A.5R).
• Base the assessment on sufficient information that you are aware of at the time, obtained where appropriate from the customer and where necessary from a credit reference agency, enough to carry out a reasonable assessment (CONC 5.2A.7R).
• Consider the risk that the customer will not make repayments by their due dates and the risk to the customer of not being able to make repayments: their ability to repay as the repayments fall due over the life of the agreement, without having to borrow, without failing to make other payments they are obliged to make, and without a significant adverse impact on their financial situation (CONC 5.2A.10R, 5.2A.12R).
• When considering affordability risk, do not take into account the existence of, or the intention to provide or request, any guarantee, indemnity or other form of security (CONC 5.2A.14R).
• Unless you can demonstrate that it is obvious in the circumstances of the case that the customer is able to make repayments, so as to make the steps disproportionate, or the customer has indicated clearly an intention to repay wholly using savings or other assets, take reasonable steps to determine, or reasonably estimate, the customer's current income and current non-discretionary expenditure, estimate any reasonably foreseeable reduction in income or increase in expenditure that could have a material impact, and take account of the figures (CONC 5.2A.15R, 5.2A.17R).
• Make the extent and scope of the assessment proportionate to the individual circumstances of each case, and consider the types, content and level of detail of the information to use, whether to obtain more from the customer or from a credit reference agency, whether and how far to verify it, and the degree of evaluation and analysis, having regard to factors including the type of credit, the amount, the duration, the repayments, the total charge for credit and the annual percentage rate of charge (CONC 5.2A.20R).
• For an open-end agreement, make a reasonable assumption about the likely duration of the credit, and for running-account credit assume that the customer draws down the entire credit limit at the earliest opportunity and repays by equal instalments over a reasonable period, and set the credit limit in the light of the assumptions (CONC 5.2A.26R, 5.2A.27R).
• Where an individual other than the borrower is to provide a guarantee or indemnity, undertake a reasonable assessment of the potential for the guarantor's commitments to have a significant adverse impact on the guarantor's financial situation, on sufficient information, before entering into the agreement or increasing the credit (CONC 5.2A.31R).
• Establish, implement and maintain clear and effective written policies and procedures to carry out creditworthiness assessments, setting out the principal factors you will take into account and, other than as a sole trader, approved by your governing body or senior personnel; assess and periodically review their effectiveness and your compliance with them and with CONC 5.2A; take appropriate measures to address any deficiencies; and, other than as a sole trader, maintain robust governance arrangements and internal control mechanisms to ensure compliance (CONC 5.2A.33R(1) to (4) and (6)).
• Maintain a record, on paper or in electronic form, of each transaction where a regulated credit agreement is entered into, or credit is significantly increased, sufficient to demonstrate that a creditworthiness assessment was carried out where required and was reasonable and undertaken in accordance with CONC 5.2A (CONC 5.2A.33R(5)).
• Do not complete the parts of an application for credit intended to be completed by the customer without the customer's consent or unless the customer has been advised to check the application and has had a full opportunity to do so (CONC 5.2A.35R).
• Do not accept an application for credit where you know or have reasonable cause to suspect that the customer has not been truthful in completing it in relation to information relevant to the creditworthiness assessment (CONC 5.2A.36R).

FCA Handbook, PRIN 2A and Principle 12 · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you are a firm carrying on retail market business, meaning the regulated activities and ancillary activities, payment services and issuing of electronic money of a firm in a distribution chain that involves a retail customer, or if you communicate or approve a financial promotion addressed to or likely to be received by a retail customer, to the extent you are responsible for determining or materially influencing retail customer outcomes: act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers (Principle 12, PRIN 2.1.1R, and PRIN 3.2.6R to 3.2.7R).
• Act in good faith towards retail customers (PRIN 2A.2.1R); the standard of conduct is set out in PRIN 2A.2.2R and includes fair and open dealing and acting consistently with the reasonable expectations of retail customers.
• Avoid causing foreseeable harm to retail customers, whether by act or omission, in your direct relationship with a retail customer or through your role in the distribution chain (PRIN 2A.2.8R and 2A.2.9R).
• Enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives (PRIN 2A.2.14R).
• If you identify, through complaints, your internal monitoring or any other source, that retail customers have suffered foreseeable harm as a result of your acts or omissions, act in good faith and take appropriate action to rectify the situation, including providing redress where appropriate (PRIN 2A.2.5R).
• Products and services: as a manufacturer, maintain, operate and review a process for approving a product, and significant adaptations of it, before it is marketed or distributed to retail customers, and test products appropriately (PRIN 2A.3.2R and 2A.3.9R); as a distributor, maintain, operate and review distribution arrangements that avoid causing, and where that is not practical mitigate, foreseeable harm to retail customers (PRIN 2A.3.14R).
• Price and value: as a manufacturer, ensure your products provide fair value to retail customers in the target market and carry out and regularly review a value assessment (PRIN 2A.4.2R); as a distributor, do not distribute a product unless your distribution arrangements are consistent with the product providing fair value (PRIN 2A.4.16R).
• Consumer understanding: support retail customer understanding so that your communications meet the information needs of retail customers, are likely to be understood by them and equip them to make decisions that are effective, timely and properly informed, and communicate information in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading (PRIN 2A.5.3R); where appropriate, test communications before use and regularly monitor their impact (PRIN 2A.5.10R).
• Consumer support: design and deliver support to retail customers that meets their needs, including those with characteristics of vulnerability, lets them use their product as reasonably anticipated, includes appropriate friction in customer journeys, and does not put unreasonable barriers in their way during the product lifecycle (PRIN 2A.6.2R).
• Ensure the Consumer Duty is reflected in your strategies, governance, leadership and people policies, and that retail customer outcomes are a central focus of your risk control arrangements under SYSC and of your internal audit function (PRIN 2A.8.1R).
• Regularly monitor the outcomes retail customers receive from your products, your communications and your customer support, in a way that lets you determine whether you are complying with Principle 12 and PRIN 2A.2 and whether any group of retail customers is experiencing different outcomes from another group of the same product (PRIN 2A.9.8R to 2A.9.10R).
• Prepare a report for your governing body on the results of that monitoring and any actions required, and at least annually have the governing body review and approve it, confirm whether it is satisfied that you are complying with the Consumer Duty, and assess whether your future business strategy is consistent with it (PRIN 2A.8.3R and 2A.8.4R).
• Where monitoring shows that retail customers are not receiving the outcomes listed in PRIN 2A.9.9R, that any group is receiving worse outcomes than another for the same product, or that you are not complying with Principle 12 and the cross-cutting obligations, take appropriate action to address the situation (PRIN 2A.9.12R).

FCA Handbook, SYSC 8.1.6R · Read the law's page

• It reaches you if you are a firm other than a common platform firm, apart from an insurer, a UK ISPV, a managing agent, the Society, a full-scope UK AIFM of an unauthorized AIF, a MiFID optional exemption firm or a third country firm (SYSC 1 Annex 1 3.3R).
• If you are a firm other than a common platform firm and you outsource critical or important operational functions or any relevant services and activities, remain fully responsible for discharging all of your obligations under the regulatory system, and comply with the conditions that the outsourcing must not result in the delegation by senior personnel of their responsibility, must not alter your relationship and obligations towards clients, must not undermine the conditions with which you must comply in order to be authorized and to remain so, and must not remove or modify any other condition subject to which your authorization was granted (SYSC 8.1.6R).