Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Financial Conduct Authority enforces rules on affordability checks for payday loans.

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, transferring regulatory responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.

Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an independent body.

The FCA has tough enforcement powers – criminal, civil and regulatory – to protect consumers and to take action against firms and individuals that do not meet its standards. In 2017, the FCA issued total fines of £229 million. Since the transfer, the FCA has taken a proactive approach on consumer credit, to ensure that all consumers who use high-cost credit products are treated fairly.