Latest news with #EmilyShepperd
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
FCA Official Emily Shepperd Departs Regulator After Four Years
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority said Chief Operating Officer Emily Shepperd will depart after four years at the watchdog. Shepperd overhauled the authorization system after complaints of persistent delays. Her departure was first reported by Financial News, which said she did not have her next role lined up.
Scotsman
27-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
In Scotland 2 per cent of the population are 'unbanked' according to major survey
A major new survey paints a mixed picture when it comes to how people in Scotland, and across the UK, are managing their finances and coping with money pressures. Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulator, unveiled its latest Financial Lives Survey 2024 earlier this month, including a vast amount of data covering such areas as levels of cash savings, debt management, financial resilience and access to banking services. Its previous survey was from 2022. Emily Shepperd FCA | Supplied The new Financial Lives Survey found that the amount of 'unbanked' people in Scotland had fallen from 3 per cent in 2022 to 2 per cent of the population last year. But this was still higher than for the UK as a whole where the figure for 2024 was 1.6 per cent. This statistic refers to those with no current account with a bank, building society, credit union or e-money provider. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Speaking to The Scotsman, FCA chief operating officer Emily Shepperd, said: 'If you don't have a bank account, it's very hard to get income and to pay bills and the knock on effect is substantial. There can be a number of underlying reasons for people not having a bank account, for example it can be linked to homelessness.' Shepperd added that it would be good to tackle this problem at an early age, from 18 to 24 years, to ensure people get off on a sound footing. She said it is never too early for financial education. 'We're pushing the whole financial inclusion piece, working a lot with government, firms and stakeholders,' explained Shepperd. 'We're also working with government to develop a national plan for financial inclusion.' Responding to the finding on the number of unbanked actress the UK, Sharon MacPherson of Financial Inclusion for Scotland (FIFS), said: 'While the reduction in the unbanked population to just under 1 million UK adults is a step forward, this still represents a significant number of people shut out from essential banking services, a cornerstone of financial inclusion.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As part of its financial inclusion strategy, FIFS is planning a School Banking Pilot Project, enhancing banking inclusion and improving access to bank accounts for young people. A worrying statistic in the FCA's latest survey is that one in ten in the UK have no cash savings, and another 21 per cent have less than £1,000 to draw on in an emergency. The regulator's research also shows that one in four people in the UK have low financial resilience, meaning that they have missed payments, are struggling to keep up with commitments, or don't have savings to help them through difficulties. In Scotland, 23 per cent of people have low financial resilience - low savings, heavily burdened by domestic bills/credit commitments or in financial difficulties - down from 26 per cent in 2022. Some 12 per cent of Scots found it a heavy burden to keep up with domestic bills and/or credit commitments, an improvement from 14 per cent in 2022. Almost a quarter in Scotland were in the precarious position of not being able to cover their living expenses for more than a month without having to borrow money or ask for help from friends and family. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And 49 per cent of people north of the border showed signs of vulnerability, such as low resilience, low capability, poor health or experiencing a negative life event in the last 12 months. Shepperd said: 'It is a very large survey, so you would expect some mixed results. The fact you have one in 10 people in the UK have no cash savings and a further 21 per cent have got less than £1,000 is obviously somewhat concerning. If you are in financial difficulty, the best thing to do is to reach out. There are some really good free services around, like money helper.' And the FCA found that when consumers do seek support it makes financial pressures more manageable. Of the 1.7 million people in the UK who had used a debt advice or debt management service in the previous 12 months, 61 per cent said their debts were more manageable as a result. On a positive note, a reduction in digital exclusion has been identified in the survey. Across the UK it declined from 14 per cent in 2022 to 2 per cent in 2024, and in Scotland it fell from 15 per cent to 2 per cent. The FCA defines adults as being digitally excluded, if they never/very rarely use the internet, or they use the internet occasionally (less than once a week) but rate their ability to use it as poor or bad. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Reasons for the drop in digital exclusion include the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating digital adoption across many sectors, including financial services. Additionally, ongoing improvements in digital banking – such as more user-friendly mobile apps and broader internet access have likely played a role. According to the FCA, even those who are better off could take steps to improve their long-term financial health. Some 61 per cent of people in the UK with more than £10,000 in investible assets held at least three-quarters of these assets in cash, rather than investments. The regulator wants to see more people holding mainstream investments to improve long-term returns. Shepperd commented that moving from cash to investments can be dependent on financial education. 'Part of our strategy is about building trust in financial services, and getting people to move into investments is an element of that. We've a campaign that's going to be running called InvestSmart that's to help consumers make better informed investment decisions,' she explained. 'We also have the reforming of the advice and guidance framework to make it clearer when people can give and receive advice - particularly in those moments that really matter like when you come into money or hit 55. Getting those who can afford it to invest is part of what we do. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'One of the themes of our strategy is helping consumers to make most of their financial lives, and underpinning that is Consumer Duty. It's about making sure firms explain their products in a language that people can understand.' Looking towards retirement, the FCA's survey found that one-third of UK adults with a defined contribution (DC) pension have less than £10,000 saved.
