The regulatory constraint: growth, retrospective risk and the reach of reform

Can you grow your lending business when past decisions can be revisited?

What does the FCA’s growth objective mean for your lending decisions when past conduct can be challenged years later? This auto finance session looks at how that tension shapes product innovation and what to watch as consumer credit rules evolve.

The FCA has a secondary objective to support competitiveness and growth. Yet in Finance Connect’s first-wave 2026 survey of asset finance leaders, lenders that do not offer loans cited conduct risk among their reasons. The findings are directional, but they show how concerns about conduct can shape which products reach the market.

Motor finance redress puts that tension into focus. When decisions can be challenged years later, lenders have to weigh the case for a new product against risks that are harder to assess at launch. Consumer Credit Act reform and Consumer Duty raise a related question: where do the requirements apply, and what should firms be ready to demonstrate about customer outcomes?

In “The regulatory constraint: growth, retrospective risk and the reach of reform”, part of the Auto Finance stream, David Betteley, Head of Auto Finance at Finance Connect, questions Wayne Gibbard, Partner – Financial Services Regulatory at Shoosmiths, before bringing in perspectives from motor finance, compliance and automotive retail.

Panellists

• Michael Stewart, Senior Manager, Mazda Financial Services Wholesale Finance
• Rachael Jones, Director of Automotive Finance, Autotrader
• Tara Williams, Chief Compliance Officer, Mobilize Financial Services
• Wayne Gibbard, Partner, Financial Services Regulatory, Shoosmiths

In this session you will:

• Know what the FCA’s growth objective could mean for how it weighs risk and proportionality alongside customer protection.
• See how the prospect of retrospective redress shapes decisions about launching products in SME and consumer lending.
• Anticipate where Consumer Credit Act reform and Consumer Duty may affect regulated and unregulated lending, and what evidence firms may need to show good customer outcomes.

View the full Finance Connect UK Autumn Conference 2026 agenda here.

Register here: https://afcconferenceuk.com/financeconnectautumnconference2026/en/page/book-now

The Finance Connect UK Autumn Conference 2026 is supported by Odessa as Event Partner, with Alfa as Headline Sponsor of the Asset Finance community stream and Dancerace as Headline Sponsor of the Receivables Finance Connect Conference.