The UK Chancellor’s application to intervene to provide evidence about the significant and potentially damaging impact on the auto finance market of the Appeal Court’s recent ruling relating to commission disclosure has been rejected. The FCA however will be allowed to intervene and is expected to provide the same or similar evidence.
The five-member panel of judges have not given a reason for this decision, but it has widely been reported as a set-back for the industry.
A legal commentator has suggested to AFC that the industry may have taken too much comfort from the Government’s support. Court and Parliament are separate and the impact of the Government’s attempted intervention, though welcome, may simply have been seen by the panel as a distraction. It is unsurprising therefore that the Panel have selected the FCA to deliver the same evidence.
HMT’s submission to the Court suggested that any remedy should ‘at least be considered on a case by case basis’. Julian Rose, founder of Asset Finance Policy and editor of AFC’s AF50 suggests that “it looks far less likely now that the FCA will impose any crude blanket redress programme.
“Maybe today is not quite as disappointing for the industry as the news and the share prices first suggests.”
The UK Supreme Court is due to start considering the Appeal on 1st April 2025.
