Ban on cold calling for consumer financial services and products

The HM Treasury has launched a consultation and call for evidence on a proposed ban of unsolicited calls, so-called „cold calls“, for ALL financial products and services for purposes of marketing these products or services to consumers.
The consultation and call for evidence follow a huge increase in fraud, including investment fraud, in the financial services industry most of which is triggered via such marketing strategies. The consultation is high level in nature in that it does not propose specific rule amendments. However, the Treasury does point out that it seeks to implement the ban via modifications to the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, if it will proceed with the proposal.
Specifically, the Treasury seeks comments and / or evidence on the following, among others:
– the potential harm of cold calls to consumers and the financial market;
– the scope of the ban (the Treasury proposes „life telephone calls“ to be included in the ban); in this context, the Treasury would also like to know whether or not unsolicited marketing via other means such as electronic communications (e.g. social media) should be included in the ban and the potential harm if it isn’t;
– the extend of the current practice of door-to-door selling and how the Treasury could potentially prevent a shift from unsolicited marketing practices via the phone to door-to-door selling;
– the scope of firms that should be captured by the ban (e.g. sole traders);
– the scope of products and services to which the ban should apply, for instance, banking services, payment services, insurance and debt services, investment services including investments in tangible products;
– whether or not the ban should also apply to FCA or PRA registered firms with existing client relationships; and
– how the Treasury may best ensure that consumers are aware of the ban.
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As these are only the key issues addressed in the consultation / call for evidence, please review the original document for more detailed, comprehensive information.