The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a discussion paper on Friday to examine whether regulators are adequately protecting small businesses when they are consumers of financial services and if it’s worth expanding these firms’ access to consumer dispute-resolution mechanisms.
The FCA reports its research has found that complex products, limited choice and poorly managed expectations may expose small businesses to risk — and that these firms can be vulnerable to the same cognitive and behavioural biases that expose retail clients to poor financial decision making.
In addition, when things do go wrong, the FCA says that small businesses “may experience complex and escalating problems and may struggle with the complaints and claims processes.”
As a result, the FCA is considering whether it should expand access to the Financial Ombudsman Service and whether the amount of redress that the ombudservice can order should be increased from its current limit of £150,000.
The FCA also is considering whether the financial services sector could use voluntary standards to improve the treatment of small businesses and, if so, what are the appropriate goals of these standards should be.
“Small businesses are a vital part of the U.K. economy. We need to consider whether we’re doing our part in delivering an effective, proportionate regulatory framework that gives them the confidence required to use the financial services they need to grow,” says Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition at the FCA, in a statement.
“We want people to tell us whether our rules are appropriate: do they strike the right balance between protecting small businesses and encouraging firms to offer services to [small and medium enterprises], to compete and to innovate?” he adds.
The deadline for feedback on the discussion paper is March 18, 2016.