Top Stories
More than 40% of Britons in poor health or struggling financially amid pandemic, says UK regulator
Published by linker 5
Posted on February 11, 2021
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.
Published by linker 5
Posted on February 11, 2021
By Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – More than 40 percent of Britons are struggling financially or suffering poor health, a sharp increase from last year driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday.
The FCA said there are now 27.7 million adults in Britain affected by low financial resilience, poor health or other recent negative life events, up from 24 million in February 2020, a month before the country went into its first lockdown to fight the pandemic. Britain’s total population is 67 million.
Having just one of the characteristics puts a consumer at greater risk of harm, the FCA said in the latest findings of its regular Financial Lives survey.
The survey contacted 16,000 people between August 2019 and February 2020, with a follow up survey of 22,000 people in October last year.
Consumers with too much debt to manage or low levels of savings or erratic earnings rose from 10.7 million to 14.2 million during 2020, the FCA said.
Over 13 million people are expected to struggle to make ends meet, with many saying they are expected to take on more debt, cut back on essentials, or use a food bank, it said.
“The pain is not being shared equally with a higher than average proportion of younger and BAME adults becoming vulnerable since March,” said Nisha Arora, the FCA’s director of consumer and retail policy.
“It is likely the picture will have got worse since we conducted the survey,” she said.
To ease the financial pain of COVID-19, which caused the worst economic slump in 300 years, the government told banks to offer payment “holidays” lasting many months on mortgages, credit cards and other forms of credit.
One in six mortgage borrowers or 3.2 million people took up a payment deferral.
The expiry of relief measures this year is likely to trigger more financial difficulties for people, with Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods warning last week that the worst was yet to come for banks, which had provided the measures.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to do more to protect the economy and fund the fight against COVID-19 in his March 3 budget, having already increased spending and cut taxes by over 280 billion pounds ($385 billion).
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)