Russell Vought was appointed the head of US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on the 7th February, and has told his staff to immediately halt nearly all operations. When sworn in he said, “Bureaucracies hate the American people”, and followed this up with further hard hitting words on X, tweeting “The CFPB has been a woke and weaponised agency against disfavoured industries and individuals for a long time. This must end.” Details of the CFPB can be found here.
Any financial practitioner in the UK will immediately recognise that this organisation’s website and status is remarkably similar to the UK FOS. See https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ You can draw your own conclusions on the meaning for UK financial services. The Labour Government is traditionally seen as a supporter of self funding public sector bodies such as the FCA and FOS. While the USA is closing theirs, the UK shows no sign of wanting to deregulate UK financial services.
Basically the USA has just closed the equivalent of the FOS, and gives us a window to see what might happen if Reform win the next UK General Election. What chance of that? Well, in fact 9-4 are the odds, matching the Conservative party. You could say that there is effectively a 1/3rd chance of the FOS being abolished in five years time.
What would deregulation mean for you? This is a subject that requires discussion in your teams, and we should all be mindful the the Darwin mis-quote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change.”
BAT believe that tech is the bridge for lowering compliance costs. This is our sole aim – automation. We are mindful of the words of St Paul, “…One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal”