Our vision is to ensure that all personal and small business customers receive a fair deal from their lender.
We do this through overseeing the achievement of the principles, customer outcomes and standards contained in the Standards of Lending Practice for personal and business customers and acting where Firms fail to achieve these. Over the next three years we will continue on our journey of overseeing voluntary standards in the financial conduct area so that more consumers get a fair deal in more areas.
Voluntary standards include: the Standards of Lending Practice for business and personal customers, the Credit Card Market Study (CCMS) remedies, Access to Banking Standard, other agreements currently held by UK Finance and any further areas or themes the LSB may move into.
Our key strategic aims are to:
- Promote and help deliver fair outcomes and greater consistency for personal and small business borrowers;
- Achieve high level of market coverage of personal and business lenders;
- Demonstrate how self-regulation can deliver good customer outcomes and can complement the work of the FCA;
- Be recognised as a leading, influential voice for personal and business lending; and
- Add value for Registered Firms.
Achieving the vision
Our business strategy sets out the actions we will take over the next three years to deliver our vision and mission. We recognise that given our resources we will need to prioritise carefully and be agile in responding to new opportunities.
Our aim at the end of this period is to be recognised as the home of voluntary standards in financial services, providing a fair deal for all consumers and value for money for our registered firms, and demonstrating the value of voluntary regulation as a complement to statutory rules. In particular we will pay special attention to helping the most vulnerable in society in our work programmes and priorities.
The key actions over the three-year period covered by the plan are to:
- Continue to oversee the application of the personal and business Standards and to extend their scope, focusing on new products and sectors, and introducing Standards for areas of emerging risk, with priority given to maximising consumer protection, where independently monitored and overseen voluntary codes do not exist.
- Attract new firms to register with the LSB, to extend market coverage, through developing our value proposition and focusing on priority sectors, including emerging ones and where we can assure high standards.
- Evolve the role of voluntary standards, working with the FCA and other key bodies to identify areas where the LSB can be the effective oversight body, thus providing added value to firms and the wider industry.
- Increase our profile, reach and influence so that all stakeholders understand our strategic proposition and we are recognised as a leading influential voice on financial conduct and personal and business lending issues.
- Continue to deliver added value to our existing registered firms through taking on responsibility for voluntary standards and enhance our insight and support services.
We will look to provide regular updates on the work we are currently undertaking in support of our key actions and strategic aims in due course.
