4 April 2014
Figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 14% in February 2014, compared with the same month last year. The second charge mortgage market reported new business up 57% by value and 32% by volume in February.
Point-of-sale finance also showed a 23% increase, and the strong performance continued in retail store and online credit with new business growth of 12%.
Commenting, Fiona Hoyle, Head of Consumer Finance at the FLA, said: “On 1 April, the Financial Conduct Authority began supervising an additional 50,000 consumer credit firms. The challenge now is to get them through the authorisation process within a sensible timescale so that the supply of responsibly-provided credit can be maintained.”
Table 1: New consumer credit lending
Feb. 14 |
% change on prev. year |
3 months to Feb. 2014 |
% change on prev. year |
12 months to Feb. 2014 |
% change on prev. year |
|
Total FLA consumer finance (£m) | 4,979 |
+14 |
16,422 |
+15 |
67,413 |
+8 |
Data extracts: | ||||||
Retail store and online credit (£m) | 439 |
+12 |
1,652 |
+12 |
5,981 |
+5 |
Credit cards & personal loans (£m) | 2,798 |
+9 |
9,347 |
+9 |
36,108 |
0 |
Second mortgages (£m) | 44 |
+57 |
125 |
+54 |
475 |
+41 |
Car finance (£m) | 1,455 |
+27 |
4,580 |
+30 |
21,492 |
+25 |
Note to editors:
- FLA members in the consumer finance sector include banks, credit card providers, store card providers, second-charge mortgage lenders, motor finance providers, personal loan and short-term credit lenders, and instalment credit providers. 2. In 2013, FLA members provided £88.3 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £65.9 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit representing almost a third of all unsecured lending in the UK.