News & Insights
We cover hot news stories and give our honest opinion on developments, risks and opportunities.
Our news stories can be in the form of e-shots, ‘white papers’ or social media commentary, but we will not comment on trivial matters – you will not see us mentioning on what type of coffee we are drinking whilst waiting for a train! You can catch up on our previous commentaries below.
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FCA fires another warning shot at later life lending
In a recent speech, at the Building Society Association annual conference, the FCA fired another warning shot across the bows of later life lenders. In particular, the regulator outlined its…

Challenger banks and financial crime controls
The FCA has recently announced the results of its review of challenger banks anti-fraud processes and controls. It undertook an extensive research programme that included over 50% of relevant firms…

Buy now pay later products and RMBS concerns
The change in approach and increased level of anxiety regarding BNPL schemes is increasing. So why are RMBS investors becoming progressively more concerned? 1) The HM Treasury consultation on the…

ESG mortgages, FCA ups the stakes!
In our last blog we focused on the fact that RMBS investors are genuinely becoming more ESG focused. This is partly because of the premium that underpins a green transaction…

ESG and mortgage portfolios
Our scopes of work, when considering due diligence and AUP reviews, are more regularly containing a requirement to consider and comment on the ‘greenness’ of a mortgage portfolio. While cynics…

ROCKSTEAD calls on lenders and regulators to address weak ESG data.
Rockstead, the leading due diligence and business review provider, has called on lenders and regulators to address weak ESG RMBS disclosure criteria and to increase the quality and quantity of…

Operational risk and resilience
It is nearly a year since the PRA set out its requirements in respect of outsourcing and third-party risk management. More importantly, there is now little more than four weeks…

Arrears contingency planning
The markets were not surprised when the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently voted to increase the bank base rate. The only surprise was that the increase was…

RICS demands more effective oversight
Regular readers of our blogs will be aware the focus is often based on the core themes of independence, oversight, culture and behaviours. The recent update from the standards and…

FCA and PRA fines – firms can no longer ignore them
Firms should now have their 2022 compliance plans in place. Information sources that often influence those plans include regulator consultation papers and ‘Dear Chief Executive’ letters as examples. However, one…

Credit Risk back in the spotlight.
In our blogs, we have often pointed out that PRA observations about one business sector are often highly relevant to other regulated areas. The recent ‘Dear Directors’ letters to credit…

Keeping aligned with the regulator
Around this time of year, the FCA usually issues two significant, interlinked, documents. This year is no different as their business plan and perimeter report were both announced at the…

Remote working and regulator expectations
Many firms have been remote working for 20 months now. It is a testament to operational resilience plans that so many businesses were able to switch from office-based models to…

What do we mean by due diligence?
We were delighted to attend the Global ABS conference in London last month with our sister company Yabber Global. It was great to hold face to face conversations with our…

The importance of Securitisation in non-bank lenders’ strategies
The importance of securitisations for challenger and non-bank lenders is well known and has been the subject of much of our commentary this year. There are number of sessions where…

NPL securitisations and the implementation of Basel standards
Chief Risk Officers, and those with compliance oversight responsibilities, often use regulator consultation papers [‘CP’] as useful documents to plan for and get ahead of the game in respect of…