Financial Guidance and Claims Act gets Royal Assent

The Financial Guidance and Claims Act has received Royal Assent. The Act:

• establishes a single financial guidance body, and sets out its objectives, functions and funding details. It also sets out requirements on regulators to make guidance and permits the making of regulations that ban unsolicited direct marketing relating to pensions and other financial products and services. If, at the end of June in any year, there are no regulations in force about marketing of pensions, the Secretary of State must explain why; and
• transfers the regulation of claims management services to FCA. This part of the Act also bans unsolicited calls for direct marketing of claims handling services except where the recipient has previously given consent