The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) today welcomed the publication of the FCA’s discussion paper: “Transforming culture in financial services – Driving purposeful cultures”, saying achieving fair outcomes should be a core purpose in retail lending. LIBF chaired the Retail Lending stream, which produced a number of papers, including a submission by LIBF Visiting Professor, Dr Tony Gandy: Lending and purpose: focusing purpose on deliverable technical and cultural change.
“The FCA’s consideration of “Purpose” in the context of retail lenders is an important initiative. Lending is a balancing act, it sits between those people who wish to borrow and the savers and investors wishing to lend. The business of lending has to also take into account the interests of staff, owners (whether private, pubic or mutual), and wider society, and give each party a decent outcome. At The London Institute of Banking and Finance, our purpose in connection with Retail Lending is to help bankers and retail lenders to understand the technical challenges in delivering good decision making and good operational processes,” says LIBF Visiting Professor, Dr Tony Gandy.
“If lenders have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of lending then achieving a fair outcome for all stakeholders can be achieved. Setting a Purpose based on achieving fair outcomes for all stakeholders is not a fanciful aim, Purpose based on fairness sets a lender a target of developing the knowledge, capabilities and decision making tools which can protect and support all stakeholders.”
Alex Fraser, CEO of LIBF, who chaired the Retail Lending stream said:
“How the retail lending sector does business and treats its customers is critical in supporting good consumer outcomes. We’ve been at the heart of the finance sector for over 140 years, and while we have evolved over that time – along with the sector – we remain true to our founding principles. Those are to set and maintain professional standards for the finance sector, help those working in the sector advance their careers and, in doing so, support the sector in delivering good outcomes. We look forward to continuing to play our part in the development of purposeful cultures across the sector as that work evolves.”
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