Looking Beyond Our Shores: Consumer Protection Regulation Lessons from the UK

UCC08-16: UK credit regulation has been undergoing substantial reform in the past three years. This paper reviews these reforms and discusses how they take account of criticisms of previous regulatory regimes. It then attempts to draw out some of the strengths and weaknesses of regulation in the UK from the consumers’ perspective. In doing so, there is a need to distinguish between mortgages, and other forms of consumer credit as there are two quite different regulatory regimes for the conduct of business, including consumer protection. It is also important to note that the paper is restricted to retail markets and does not cover prudential regulation…