Conduct of Business Regime: Financial Services

The government has published a response paper to its July 2012 consultation paper on consumer data access proposals.

On 11 January 2012, the European Commission published a Green Paper consultation on developing an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments.  It has also published a Communication on the separate, but related, issue of building trust in the digital single market for e-commerce and online services.  

The Information Commissioner's Office has published guidance on access to information held in complaint files.

Our summary of the key business tax announcements in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report.

On 24 April 2008, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that it welcomed a High Court ruling which confirmed the OFT's view that the unfairness rules of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 can be applied to assess unarranged overdraft charges in personal current accounts. The High Court case was brought by the OFT, with the agreement of the major banks, as a test case on this point of legal principle. The ruling does not, however, consider or draw any conclusions on whether the overdraft charges imposed under the standard terms of current accounts are actually fair. This issue will be considered separately. The High Court action was brought in the context of the OFT's wider investigation into personal current accounts and retail bank pricing in the UK.