Financial Exclusion: UK government publishes response to Lords Select Committee final report

Following the appointment in 2016 by the House of Lords of a Select Committee to investigate financial exclusion and access to mainstream financial services, the Committee published its final report, ‘Tackling Financial Exclusion: A Country that works for everyone‘ in March 2017 (Report).  This Report made 22 recommendations to address financial exclusion and access, including in areas relating to financial services regulation, access to financial services and credit and borrowing.

The UK government has now published its response to the Report.  Overall, the responses to the specific recommendations to the Report note and endorse current ongoing work, in particular by the FCA.   It also indicates that the government will set up a new Financial Inclusion Policy Forum to enable ministers to take a strategic, cross-government approach on action to improve financial inclusion, and will include representatives from the financial services regulators, industry and consumer groups.