The Consumer Panel is a statutory body – the Financial Services Act 2012 requires the FCA to establish a Panel to represent the interests of consumers. We work to advise and challenge the FCA from the earliest stages of its policy development to ensure they take into account the consumer interest.
The Panel provides a valuable consumer perspective to aid effective regulation. FCA staff can discuss developing ideas and proposals with the Panel before any final decisions are taken by the FCA Board.
We are not a campaigning or lobbying group. We exist to provide an independent consumer perspective primarily for the FCA, but also on the conduct of financial services more generally. As such, we work with a number of other bodies as well as the FCA.
As the Consumer Panel advises the FCA on consumer interests, it acts as an independent counter balance to the parallel Practitioner Panel, Smaller Business Practitioner Panel and Markets Practitioner Panel who advise the FCA from the point of view of industry practitioners.
The FCA is able to remunerate members for their role on the Panel, legislation prevents members from receiving other remuneration from the FCA, the PSR, HMT, the PRA or the Bank of England, with some limited exceptions.