Covers a range of topics relating to mortgages and the wider housing market.
Covers issues relating to savings accounts and payments.
Covers developments in conduct of business regulation
Covers issues relating to the corporate governance and constitution of building societies.
People related matters such as talent development, apprenticeships and diversity.
Internal and external accounting assurance and matters relating to tax.
The regulation and supervision of firms to ensure their safety and soundness under the remit of the Prudential Regulation Authority.
A new legal aid scheme to support borrowers at risk of repossession (member only content).
A wide range of statistics relating to the UK mortgage and housing markets.
Research, analysis and guidance about our members and the issues that affect them.
Retail savings data including net receipts and deposits, ISAs and interest rates.
Operational and financial information about building societies. Includes AGM & financial results and remuneration details.
Submission and publication deadlines for BSA data and reports.
Bank Rate cut to 4.75% but pace of rate cuts expected to moderate in wake of Budget
News and views on topical issues from the BSA and guests.
View our latest press releases and comment here.
The BSA's quarterly magazine covers whats happening in the world of building societies, credit unions and the wider financial services sector.
A quarterly survey that assesses consumer sentiment regarding the UK property market.
View biographies and download photos of the BSA's key spokespeople
BSA speeches from events and seminars
View the latest webinars, training and other events open to members, associates and other stakeholders
View our latest BSA Annual Conference and comment here.
View our latest Past events & summaries and comment here.
Learn how to promote your event to the BSA's membership.
Employment Rights Bill Webinar (18th November 2024)
Find factsheets on mortgages, savings and the building society sector.
Track building societies that no longer exists and get a link to its successor's website.
Find mortgage instructions and specific requirements setting out individual building society policies.
The UK Savings Week campaign aims to get people engaged in saving.
Toolkits to develop Workplace Savings are available here.
Here you can find our publications, responses to consultation documents, mortgage instructions, statistics and sector job vacancies.
Find out more about the BSA and the sector.
Contact details for each of our 49 members.
Our Associate members include a wide range of companies from insurers, banks, accountants, solicitors, and other business suppliers to BSA members.
The National Credit Union Forum (NCUF) is the Credit Union Committee of the BSA.
View biographies and download photos of our key spokespeople
Vacancies for senior management, executive and other positions at the BSA and its member organisations
Find out the wide range of benefits of joining the BSA as an associate member.
The Building Societies Association is the voice of the UK's building societies.
Guest blog by Bernadine Reese and Stuart O'Sullivan, Protiviti
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is introducing the Consumer Duty to provide retail customers higher and clearer standards of protection. But how are firms preparing for implementation of the new rules? Protiviti recently held a roundtable with invited representatives from the FCA and risk professionals from the U.K. financial services industry to discuss implementation concerns and challenges.
Financial services firms have an opportunity to make themselves more competitive and sustainable under the FCA’s new Consumer Duty, but some are concerned about the time and resources it will take to implement. The final rules, which were published in July 2022, will come into force on a phased basis from the end of July 2023.
The Consumer Duty applies to all organisations in a firm’s supply chain for products and services sold to retail customers. It calls on them to act in good faith and avoid causing foreseeable harm to customers. A significant shift from the FCA’s July 2006 Treating Customers Fairly initiative, it holds firms accountable for delivering good outcomes to retail customers in four key areas: products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support.
Ian Searle, Head of Consumer Policy and Outcomes at the FCA, noted during the discussion that the FCA’s goal is to promote a competitive financial services industry that puts customers’ interests first.
While the FCA has said that firms’ boards should have signed off on implementation plans by 31 October 2022, Searle said that the deadline does not require the plans to be comprehensive. Rather, the plans should be sufficiently developed to give the FCA confidence that they will be implemented on time. The FCA understands that in the interim enhancements will be made to some plan components.
Protiviti conducted an online poll during the roundtable to gauge whether participants have concerns about the new rules. Most respondents acknowledged Consumer Duty is a positive change and would help them place customers at the centre of their plans. However, the responses also revealed doubts about embedding the new rules consistently across the organisation.
Stuart O’Sullivan, Associate Director at Protiviti, noted that although some firms consider the Consumer Duty an opportunity, others are seeking minimal compliance. He affirmed that large firms face challenges finding a consistent approach to implementation because of significant headcounts and geographic footprints, and that most firms want clarity on providing evidence that they are compliant.
A chief risk officer (CRO) at the roundtable asserted that the Consumer Duty is a paradigm shift and one of the biggest customer-wide programmes ever to be implemented in the financial services industry. She indicated that as an approach to implementation, her firm found it useful to conduct a gap analysis across business units. Her firm has presented its action plans for the four outcomes to the board and is in the process of rolling them out. She said that facilitating ongoing conversations about the rules across the organisation is critical to that process and embedding the rules in a firm’s culture. She emphasized that as firms increasingly view the rules as a mechanism to improve customer outcomes rather than a compliance exercise, their reputations will improve.
Beyond the 31 October 2022 deadline and ahead of the first phase of implementation next summer, the panellists encouraged firms to focus on the following three areas:
Protiviti’s Consumer Duty Roundtable was held online on 18 October in conjunction with the FCA. For more information about the new regulation and its impact on your firm, please contact Bernadine Reese bernadine.reese@protiviti.co.uk or Stuart O’Sullivan stuart.osullivan@protiviti.co.uk.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within guest blogs are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the BSA.
This webinar will cover a summary of the Employment Rights Bill, with a focus on the proposed changes that will affect Building Societies in particula...
The BSA strongly supports the principle of charging a fee to CMCs.
Our response to FCA GC23-2