Responding to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)'s publication of its final policy statement on new rules for the credit card market, Richard Koch, Director, Cards, UK Finance said:

?Today's announcement is an important outcome for consumers. Alongside voluntary measures devised by financial providers, these measures will reduce the cost of borrowing by encouraging individuals to pay back their card balances more quickly, where they can afford to do so.

?We will continue to work with the regulator to ensure the credit card market remains competitive, innovative and responsive to the needs of all its customers.?

Notes to Editor

1. For more information please call the UK Finance press office on 020 7416 6750 or mail press@ukfinance.org.uk.
2. UK Finance is a new trade association which was formed on 1 July 2017 to represent the finance and banking industry operating in the UK. It represents around 300 firms in the UK providing credit, banking, markets and payment-related services. The new organisation brings together most of the activities previously carried out by the Asset Based Finance Association, the British Bankers? Association, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Financial Fraud Action UK, Payments UK and the UK Cards Association
3. In its credit card market study final findings report in July 2016, the FCA concluded that the credit card market working fairly well for most consumers.
4. The credit card industry has worked constructively with the FCA since the initiation of its credit card market study, with a particular focus on identifying a series of escalating interventions to help the minority of customers who are not using the product in a way that is in their best interests. A number of the remedies have been agreed on a voluntary basis, with their implementation being in line with expectations. 
5. The FCA gathered an extensive evidence base in its assessment of the market, including (a) consumer research involving around 40,000 consumers; (b) requests for information from firms, such as quantitative/qualitative data, financial data, strategy documents and consumer research; (c) account-level data, with analysis of some 34 million consumers and 74 million active accounts over a five-year period; (d) meetings with firms, trade associations and consumer groups; (e) literature reviews; and (f) international comparisons.
6. The ?persistent debt? and ?earlier intervention? remedies are complex, so UK Finance and its members have worked closely with the FCA as it has developed its proposals.  These changes are very significant and it was crucial to get it right to ensure the best outcomes for customers, whilst also preventing unintended consequences.
7. The FCA approached UK Finance in the Autumn of 2017 for some costings based on the contractual changes and implementation of these remedies, following the publication of the detailed proposals contained in its consultation paper (CP17/10) in April.
8. The FCA has accepted the industry's voluntary proposal around unsolicited credit limit increases, which brings more control and greater choice for customers, in addition to bringing in a new exclusion rule for customers meeting the FCA's definition of persistent debt, preventing this group from receiving any offers at all.