A Question of Trust?

I’ve been working on trust in financial services for almost 9 years now, under the auspices of the Financial Services Research Forum (FSRF) at the University of Nottingham. Our work has attracted lots of attention and has been widely used by a range of industry stakeholders, but we also want it to “make a difference” – …

Why Andrew Bailey is right and why it’s a dangerous commitment to have made

Andrew Bailey, the soon-to-be chief regulator of the financial services industry has reportedly described himself as “like a dog with a bone” over the distortionary consequences of “free in-credit” banking which he has as a “dangerous myth”. His speech to the press rehearsed many of the well-known arguments about implicit or covert pricing versus explicit …

Professionalism and Financial Services

I read Greg Smith’s by now infamous letter whilst working on a project that involved reflecting on the meaning of professionalism in financial services. The picture that Smith paints of a morally bankrupt, self-interested bank is largely at odds with what we understand to be the essence of professionalism. As many will know, the regulatory …

Retirement Planning

Please see here for the Forum’s latest Research Note entitled “Retirement Planning: Attitudes and Behaviour”. Findings indicate that the majority of us do not put sufficient effort into planning for retirement and that few are excited by the thought of the task However, far more respondents state that they review their plans on a regular basis …

Marketing and Innovation in Financial Services

Times are tough in retail financial services (although look through the archives and you might see that times always tend to be tough!). The enduring challenges of increasing competition, changing regulation, new entrants and more demanding customers, combined with a severe financial crisis that is probably now moving into its fifth year make it hard …

A Crisis of Trust?

The Financial Services Research Forum is well-known for its work on trust and, in particular, for its groundbreaking Trust Index. I am a member of the Forum and work in the areas of consumer protection and criminal law as well as financial services. It is against this background that I was drawn to the front …

We need a fundamental rethink of our approach to banking regulation

The UK Financial Services Authority published its long awaited report on the failure of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on 12th December (download full 452 page report). The report provides a very comprehensive evaluation of the RBS case and is both self-critical, as well as critical of international banking regulation. Nevertheless it lays primary blame for the …

Simplified Advice

I have been reflecting on the FSA’s Simplified Advice Guidance issued earlier in the Autumn. Remember that Simplified Advice has at various stages also been referred to as Primary Advice and Guided Sales. However, as the document makes clear on pg 4, Simplified Advice is not the same thing as Basic Advice, the latter being outside …

Simple Financial Products: Summary of Responses

HM Treasury recent published a summary of responses to the questions posed in its earlier consultation paper and has formed a steering group to take matters forward. I agree with the observation that the term “simple” is far from ideal and also that a strong brand must be developed. Some kind of kite mark or logo …