FinCoNet Publishes Report on Sales Incentives and Responsible Lending

14 January 2016 - FinCoNet, the International Financial Consumer Protection Organisation, today published its report outlining key findings on the topic of Sales Incentives and Responsible Lending. Sales incentives are, by their very nature, a key driver of both culture and behaviour towards consumers.

The key findings of the report include:

There is ample evidence that poorly designed sales incentives can cause harm to consumers, individual firms and the financial system.
The nature of sales incentives and the issues they cause are relatively uniform across jurisdictions.
There are few specific rules or standards related to sales incentives, nationally or internationally.
The impact of sales incentive practices crosses industry sectors and national boundaries, requiring a holistic and international approach.

Based on these findings, FinCoNet will continue its work on sales incentives and responsible lending towards publication of a consultation paper on the topic in 2016.

Bernard Sheridan, Chair of FinCoNet said “We would encourage supervisory authorities to consider the findings of this report and we invite their submissions to our forthcoming consultation paper. The findings of this report show again the important role supervisory authorities play in ensuring that the best interests of consumers are protected, as well as the need for authorities to be vigilant in this area to ensure that incentive practices are appropriate.”

The report is based on an international survey of regulators in 24 jurisdictions across a range of consumer credit products, as well as a review of international literature published on this topic to date.

FinCoNet is open to new members and supervisory authorities are encouraged to consider joining the organisation by contacting the Secretariat at sally.day-hanotiaux@oecd.org

Download the report Report on Sales Incentives and Responsible Lending (pdf)

Contact the FinCoNet Secretariat sally.day-hanotiaux@oecd.org