QuickQuid owner's former director quits FCA committee
A former director of QuickQuid's owner has left an influential Financial Conduct Authority committee after questions were raised about his suitability because of his role at the collapsed payday lender.
Nick Lord is no longer listed as a member of the FCA's regulatory decisions committee (RDC) on the regulator's website. The FCA confirmed Lord had left when his contract finished at the end of January.
Lord joined the RDC in 2017, two years after becoming a non-executive director at CashEuroNet UK, which owned QuickQuid. The RDC reviews FCA decisions on fines and other matters such as whether firms or individuals should be authorised. It can override FCA decisions or tell it to do more work on a case.
He continued to sit on the RDC as CashEuroNet headed for administration in October 2019, leaving more than 1m customers in limbo. The company's US owner put it into administration after failing to agree compensation terms for past loans with the financial ombudsman.
Lord resigned from CashEuroNet in October 2018, a month after the collapse of QuickQuid's rival Wonga exposed pressure on high-interest short-term lenders from rising customer complaints. The FCA appointed Lord to the RDC 18 months after ordering CashEuroNet to refund 1,500 customers at a cost of £1.7m in November 2015.
An FCA spokesperson said: “Nick Lord did not seek to renew his term on the RDC when it expired on 31 January 2020.” The FCA declined to give details about Lord's reasons for leaving.
Responsible lending campaigners criticised the FCA for allowing Lord to sit on the RDC as the company he had been a director of headed for bankruptcy with a record of poor lending.
Damon Gibbons, director of the Centre for Responsible Credit, said: "It's very surprising that the FCA in the first place would put someone who is closely linked to very poor lending practices on the panel. That sent the wrong signal to the market and was probably a mistake the FCA made for some reason.
"Now he's gone it's resolved itself but I would prefer it if the FCA made a statement about the criteria they use to appoint people to the panel and that nobody with links to very poor lending practice will be accepted in future."
Lord's biography on the FCA website, now deleted, said he had spent more than 30 years representing consumer interests in financial services. He was an adviser to the Treasury on a review that produced the Money Advice Service and a former member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel.
ShareCast attempted to contact Lord through the FCA but received no response.