Member

11: After Clause 3, insert the following new Clause— “Access to affordable credit(1) The Financial Conduct Authority must—(a) within 12 months of the day on which this Act is passed, establish and publish a framework for assessing and rating the performance of relevant deposit takers in providing access to affordable credit,(b) annually publish updated ratings and scores produced by the FCA under the framework, and(c) keep the framework established under paragraph (a) under review and publish an updated framework as it deems necessary.(2) The framework must—(a) assess the extent to which relevant deposit takers serve the credit needs of individuals, households and small businesses, including those who are underserved by mainstream financial services, and (b) enable comparisons to be made between relevant deposit takers.(3) In developing the framework, the FCA must have regard to—(a) the distribution of lending across income groups, geographic areas and customer characteristics,(b) the availability of affordable credit to consumers who may otherwise be at risk of financial exclusion,(c) the provision of affordable credit to small and medium-sized enterprises, and social enterprises,(d) the extent to which a bank supports access to affordable credit through partnerships, referral arrangements and funding agreements, with credit unions, community development finance institutions or other community-based lenders, and(e) such other matters as the FCA considers relevant to the objective of promoting access to affordable credit.(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), the FCA may—(a) make use of regulatory data already collected by it, including product sales data,(b) require relevant deposit takers to provide such information as it reasonably considers necessary for the purposes of the framework, and(c) make different and proportionate provision for different sizes of business.(5) Where a relevant deposit taker receives a score or rating below a minimum threshold prescribed by rules made under this section, the FCA must require the deposit taker to take proportionate remedial action to improve its rating.(6) For the purpose specified in subsection (5), the FCA may—(a) make such rules or issue such guidance applying to designated persons as appear to the FCA to be necessary or expedient, and(b) give a direction under this section to a designated person if it considers that it is desirable to give the direction.(7) For the purposes of this section, “relevant deposit takers” are—(a) banks, within the meaning given in section 2 of the Banking Act 2009;(b) building societies, within the meaning of section 119 of the Building Societies Act 1986;which meet an FCA-set threshold for the total volume of personal and small and medium business lending.”Member’s explanatory statement This amendment requires the FCA to establish a framework assessing banks’ and building societies’ provision of affordable credit, including via partnerships with credit unions and community development finance institutions. It uses existing regulatory data where possible, with proportionate requirements for firms of different sizes.