FSA - communications with OFT on continuing credit card default fee investigation

[Amethyst]

Direct line: 0207 066 7192
Email: foi@fsa.gov.uk
Our Ref: FOI1528

Dear Ms
Freedom of Information: Right to know request
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), for the following information:
“I should like copies of information and communications shared between the FSA and the OFT with regards Credit Card Default Charges following their April 2006 Calculating Fair Default Charges in Credit Card Contracts report particularly relating to any further action and ongoing monitoring of compliance.”
Your request has been considered and I can confirm that the FSA holds a small amount of information in relation to communications shared between FSA and the OFT regarding Credit Card default charges. However, we are not able to disclose it to you because this is information which the FSA has received for the purpose of carrying out its regulatory function under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA"), and so the following exemption applies:

• Section 44 (Prohibitions on disclosure)
  
  Section 44 provides that information is absolutely exempt if its disclosure (otherwise than under the Act) is prohibited by or under any enactment. Section 348 of the FSMA restricts the FSA from disclosing "confidential information" it has received except in certain limited circumstances (none of which apply here).
  Confidential information for these purposes is defined as information which relates to the business or other affairs of any person and which was received by the FSA for the purposes of or in the discharge of its functions under FSMA and which is not in the public domain.
  Any correspondence and/or documents received by the FSA from the OFT in relation to the Credit Card default charges has been received for the purpose of carrying out its supervisory duties and therefore falls within Section 348. Consequently the FSA is prohibited from disclosing to you any information which we received while performing our regulatory duties and which is not in the public domain.
  Disclosure of any such confidential information is in breach of s.348 of FSMA and is a criminal offence.

Please be aware that, because it is the responsibility of the OFT and not FSA to regulate Credit Cards, I can confirm that the FSA do not hold any further information in relation to Credit Card Default Charges.
If you have any queries or are unhappy with the decisions made in relation to your request you have the right to request an internal review. If you wish to exercise this right you should contact us within three months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
Website: www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely


Susan Currington
Information Access Team


Susan Currington | Information Access Team | IS | Knowledge Management Department |
Financial Services Authority
25 The North Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5HS
Tel: 020 7066 1000
www.fsa.gov.uk

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA - communications with OFT on continuing credit card default fee investigation

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