FLA Staff Blogs

Last week the FLA welcomed 175 attendees to our annual Insight conference. We heard from a diverse range of speakers on what lay ahead for FLA members, from broad macroeconomic themes to more specific concerns for each of our three divisions (asset, consumer and motor finance).

The opening address featured Dr. Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Managing Partner at Thinks Insight & Strategy. Dr McNaughton Nicholls provided a unique voter’s-eye view on the general election taking place that day from their 'Election Diaries 2024' initiative, in collaboration with Politics Home and The House Magazine. Many of the insights from Thinks’ research help to explain the nature of the result that followed.

The wider political environment, however remote it may seem, has the power to significantly affect members’ businesses.  In our first plenary session, members had the opportunity to hear from Justin Webb, co-presenter of BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today programme, and host of the Americast podcast. Justin outlined his view on the broad political stories likely to shape the news agenda, both in the USA and the UK, and how these could affect the business environment. A lively Q+A session followed, with members asking questions on topics ranging from the impacts of a Donald Trump presidency to the challenges for a new Labour government.

Access to affordable, regulated credit is a critical factor for people’s participation in today’s economy. However, industry is finding it increasingly difficult to lend to customers who pose a higher credit risk.  In the second plenary, we were pleased to welcome Chris Woolard CBE, Partner, EY, to discuss how we can restore access to safe and sustainable credit to those at the margins of affordability. With the FCA now turning its focus towards financial inclusion, its challenge will be realising the benefits of the Consumer Duty while setting clear regulatory expectations to industry. From an FLA perspective, consistency between FCA regulation and FOS interpretation remains a key concern.

Our third plenary from Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, painted a sobering picture of the future economic landscape, with big challenges for the incoming Government. Paul believed that no main party had been clear on how they would meet their own fiscal targets. This will have major impacts on public policy, be it on spending commitments or tax rates. Members asked questions on the impacts of persistent services inflation (likely to continue, but not indefinitely), the appetite for continued pay restraint (limited) and the role of the Office for Budget Responsibility (likely to remain important).

Many FLA members will be looking to the future and weighing the role technology will play in their business. Will it be an enabler or a disruptor in finance models? Andrew Denton, Chief Executive of Alfa, shared his perspectives on this and other related questions in an interview with Simon Goldie, Director of Advocacy, in the first of our afternoon sessions.

In between our plenary sessions, we hosted a number of breakout panel discussions on more specific areas, including commissions disclosure, asset oversight, and responsible lending, each with expert speakers sharing their views.

The conference closed with a summary panel discussion with FLA Chair John Phillipou, Chief Risk Officer for Admiral Money Emma Powell, Managing Director of CA Auto Finance UK Ltd Alex Hughes, and FLA Director General Stephen Haddrill. This drew together all the main themes from the previous plenary sessions and panel discussions, which fell under the broad topic of “preparing for change”. Members then had the opportunity to network at a drinks reception following the event.  

The conference provided a number of perspectives for members to reflect on, from broad geopolitical risks to specific regulatory interventions. We extend our sincere thanks to all our delegates, our outstanding speakers and panellists, our Headline Sponsor Square 4 Partners, and our exhibitors Alfa, NETSOL, Codix, Equiniti, and Odessa, all of whom helped to make the event such a success.

The FLA’s next annual Insight conference will be held on 18 June 2025 at Convene, 133 Houndsditch, London.