SANTANDER UK is terminating its membership in a major lending standards body to avoid confusion over the duplication of voluntary and regulatory industry standards.

Santander UK served notice of its intention to quit the Lending Standards Board, a self-regulatory body aiming to drive fair customer outcomes in financial services.

Santander UK cited the Financial Conduct Authority's introduction of Consumer Duty and the implementation, due in October, of new fraud reimbursement rules from the Payment Systems Regulator.

In its letter to the LSB, Santander UK said these new regulatory frameworks would "supersede the existing voluntary industry standards that are set out in the current LSB codes".

"This inevitably leads to duplicative regulation and can create confusion among staff and customers about which standards apply." It added that quitting the LSB would ensure "more certainty and confidence over the regulatory landscape. Reducing duplicated effort, thereby enabling us to concentrate resources on other important... priorities".

(c) 2024 City A.M., source Newspaper