FCA sets out 14-point action plan on cash savings

In view of the findings from a recent review of banks‘ and building societies‘ practices concerning the interest rates they are paying on saving accounts, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has drawn up a 14-point action plan to counteract some of these findings and improve the situation for savers.
According to the Authority, the review revealed that only few firms are passing on increases in the UK base rate to their customers. In fact, while the UK base interest rate surged from 0.1% in December 2021 to 5.0% in July 2023, the interest rates on saving accounts only increased weakly: As far as easy access accounts are concerned, a mere 28% of this rate surge was passed on to customers‘ accounts. The pass-through rate for fixed term deposits was at least 51%. Notably, smaller institutions tended to pay higher rates as large ones.
Based on these findings, the FCA is now taking action to hold banks and building societies accountable in view of the new consumer duty. In fact, the FCA states that such findings do NOT give a good picture of UK financial institutions and their adherence to the new requirements under the consumer duty which – among other things – require them to deliver good outcomes to their customers. Therefore, the regulator is now taking action with the following 14-point action plan – which is quoted from the FCA:
As part of its action plan, the FCA will:
1. Require firms offering the lowest rates to provide their fair value assessments under the Consumer Duty by 31 August 2023 and take robust action by the end of 2023 against those who cannot demonstrate fair value.
2. Review the timing of firms’ savings rate changes each time there is a base rate change.
3. Publish an analysis every 6 months of firms’ easy access savings rates, listing distribution from best to worst.
4. Analyse the difference between on-sale and off-sale products, challenging firms to explain how large differences offer fair value and considering further action if this gap does not continue to close.
5. Review firms’ performance on cash ISA to cash ISA switching.
6. Conduct further analysis into the contribution of cash savings to firms’ profitability.
7. Review the effectiveness of firms’ engagement with customers by the end of March 2024 and take action if firms have not effectively delivered the outcomes the FCA has set out.
8. Work with others, including the Money and Pensions Service, to identify what more can be done to support consumers to save regularly, strengthening their financial resilience.
The FCA expects firms to:
9. From today, use their fair value assessments of on-sale savings products to assure themselves and the FCA, where needed, that these represent fair value for customers.
10. Accelerate their fair value assessments for off-sale accounts ahead of the July 2024 Consumer Duty deadline for off-sale accounts.
11. Take action to prompt their customers in lower paying savings accounts or non-interest bearing accounts to consider alternatives.
12. Closely monitor the effectiveness of customer communications, with larger firms providing the FCA with an evaluation by end 2023 and any follow up action they are taking.
13. Support consumer financial resilience by encouraging customers to start saving and/or search for higher rates, with the largest firms committing to support a targeted firm-by-firm communications campaign.
14. Consider how they can support their customers to access the free advice available from MoneyHelper.