The House of Lords has continued its scrutiny of the Financial Services Bill during the report stage.
The proposals debated on 14 April include amendments to:
- remove the prohibition under the Market Abuse Regulation on retaining personal data for more than five years – this was agreed;
- ensure that buy now, pay later products (BNPL) can be brought into scope of regulation in a way that is proportionate to the risks they pose to consumers. The amendment will allow the government to apply only the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 that have been determined to be proportionate to the risks posed by BNPL products – this was agreed;
- facilitate the availability of sharia-compliant student finance within 6 months of the FS Bill passing into law – this was not agreed as FCA does not regulate student finance; and
- make the Financial Policy Committee of the BoE responsible for monitoring financial exclusion and reporting on progress on offering basic bank accounts to financially excluded individuals – the government said the FPC was not the appropriate body for this task and so did not accept this amendment.