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I had a trawl through the summaries of the monthly FSA Board Meetings and have noted anything relevant to the test case and waiver.
Of particular note were the following:
*A reference to (presumably) the Bank Charges Charter petition last year.
*A reccomendation, following the judgment on the initial test case hearing, that ''the Chancellor should be alerted to the implications of the judgment''.
*The FSA ''had a role to play in addressing consumer redress''
26 July 2007
Bank Charges
The Head of Institutional Business Policy and a manger from the Banking sector team joined the meeting to present the issues:
• legal clarity was required on the issue of charges imposed by banks on customers who had exceeded their overdraft limit on their current accounts, and whether these were fair under the unfair contract terms regulations;
• eight major banks had agreed that they should be parties to a test case raised by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). To support this the FSA intended to grant a time-limited waiver to firms of the rules relating to complaints handling for these cases, which would be in place until the court provided a ruling;
• the test case would provide an orderly process to achieve a definite outcome for both the banks and the consumers;
• there were connected issues around longer term financial stability, consumer protection and implications for the retail banking model;
• the OFT was in the process of reviewing the reasonableness of charges.
The Board agreed that:
• it should support the test case, and that FSA should grant the waiver;
• the Executive should report on market reaction and positioning
• there were separate and related issues that the Executive and the Board would need to address in future.
27 September 2007
Managing Director's report, Retail Markets Business Unit
Mr Briault's report, and the following was noted:
• the FSA was reviewing, as requested by the Board in July, how the waiver on complaints handling was affecting consumers. It would consider consumer representations made in a petition as part of that review, but did not consider the petition on its own should change the course of action at present. The results of the review would be provided to the Board at a future meeting.
31 October
The Board noted the Consumer Panel's views on the unauthorised overdraft charges complaints handling waiver.
24 January
Bank charges test case
a judgement on the first stage of the test case was expected in March;
it was extremely important to have clarity of the court’s decision on whether a retrospective case had been made. That would determine the type of dialogue the FSA could have with the banks;
the Board would be updated on the way in which a historic settlement package could be achieved, if the Office of Fair Trading won the first stage;
and the waiver on complaints handling would need to be reviewed before it expired in July.
24 April
The judgement on the first stage of the bank charges case had been given and this would provide background to discussions on whether the waiver given to firms regarding complaints handling of these cases should be extended beyond its current expiry date. The Chancellor should be alerted to the implications of the judgement.
22 May
Bank Charges
The Board noted the paper and discussed the following key points:
the balance between the FSA's objectives of consumer protection and market confidence;
that the FSA had a role to play in addressing consumer redress;
the arguments for and against extending the waiver on complaints handling in these cases;
the banks' view that legal clarity was required;
and that it was important to achieve a fair outcome for all consumers, including those that were not charged overdraft fees.
Of particular note were the following:
*A reference to (presumably) the Bank Charges Charter petition last year.
*A reccomendation, following the judgment on the initial test case hearing, that ''the Chancellor should be alerted to the implications of the judgment''.
*The FSA ''had a role to play in addressing consumer redress''
26 July 2007
Bank Charges
The Head of Institutional Business Policy and a manger from the Banking sector team joined the meeting to present the issues:
• legal clarity was required on the issue of charges imposed by banks on customers who had exceeded their overdraft limit on their current accounts, and whether these were fair under the unfair contract terms regulations;
• eight major banks had agreed that they should be parties to a test case raised by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). To support this the FSA intended to grant a time-limited waiver to firms of the rules relating to complaints handling for these cases, which would be in place until the court provided a ruling;
• the test case would provide an orderly process to achieve a definite outcome for both the banks and the consumers;
• there were connected issues around longer term financial stability, consumer protection and implications for the retail banking model;
• the OFT was in the process of reviewing the reasonableness of charges.
The Board agreed that:
• it should support the test case, and that FSA should grant the waiver;
• the Executive should report on market reaction and positioning
• there were separate and related issues that the Executive and the Board would need to address in future.
27 September 2007
Managing Director's report, Retail Markets Business Unit
Mr Briault's report, and the following was noted:
• the FSA was reviewing, as requested by the Board in July, how the waiver on complaints handling was affecting consumers. It would consider consumer representations made in a petition as part of that review, but did not consider the petition on its own should change the course of action at present. The results of the review would be provided to the Board at a future meeting.
31 October
The Board noted the Consumer Panel's views on the unauthorised overdraft charges complaints handling waiver.
24 January
Bank charges test case
The Board noted an update on the progress of the Bank Charges test case and the following key points:
a judgement on the first stage of the test case was expected in March;
it was extremely important to have clarity of the court’s decision on whether a retrospective case had been made. That would determine the type of dialogue the FSA could have with the banks;
the Board would be updated on the way in which a historic settlement package could be achieved, if the Office of Fair Trading won the first stage;
and the waiver on complaints handling would need to be reviewed before it expired in July.
In view of the significant consequences attaching to the court's decision, the Board would need to approve all material decisions in this matter.
24 April
The judgement on the first stage of the bank charges case had been given and this would provide background to discussions on whether the waiver given to firms regarding complaints handling of these cases should be extended beyond its current expiry date. The Chancellor should be alerted to the implications of the judgement.
Bank Charges
The Board noted the paper and discussed the following key points:
the balance between the FSA's objectives of consumer protection and market confidence;
that the FSA had a role to play in addressing consumer redress;
the arguments for and against extending the waiver on complaints handling in these cases;
the banks' view that legal clarity was required;
and that it was important to achieve a fair outcome for all consumers, including those that were not charged overdraft fees.
