The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday published a speech by Jonathan Davidson, Executive Director of Supervision (Retail and Authorisations), which was delivered at the Credit Summit, London.

The higlights of the speech indicated:

• there has been a lot of change in the consumer credit sector, but the FCA's focus on affordability, business models and culture hasn’t and won’t change
• two areas of focus for the FCA in the high cost credit sector will be relending and affordability
• a healthy, purposeful culture will be the best way to deliver value for firms, their clients and their employees, with the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) providing some minimum standards for culture.

The speech focussed on just a few of the things going on in the consumer credit sector, which services around 40 million consumers and plays a hugely important role in the economy of the UK. Jonathan said, "while the economic environment presents challenges, it also provides great opportunities for healthy businesses".

You can read the full speech online at the FCA website.

Note: Jonathan joined the FCA in September 2015. He was formerly a senior adviser to private equity and financial services firms and a member of Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s strategic advisory group. Jonathan was also the Chief Operating Officer for Direct Line between 2010 and 2012. Prior to this Jonathan worked all over the world for McKinsey and Company. Between 1986 and 2009 he held a number of different positions at the firm, including Financial Services Practice Leader in Canada, Wholesale Banking Practice Leader in Europe and North America and Global Learning Leader of McKinsey’s organisation practice. (Text taken from the FCA website).