On 30 January 2019, London Capital and Finance plc (LCF) appointed Finbarr O’Connell, Adam Stephens, Henry Shinners and Colin Hardman of Smith and Williamson LLP as joint administrators. These appointments have been made by order of the court. The administrators’ function is generally to act in the interest of the company’s creditors as a whole, and this must be done as quickly and efficiently as is reasonably practicable.

The joint administrators will contact all affected parties in due course, including those borrowers which LCF loaned money to and bond holders. For more information about the administration please:

Visit: www.londoncapitalandfinance.co.uk

Call UK: 0800 046 7006 or International: +44 (0)20 3281 1808

Email: [email protected]

From 14 September 2019, new European Union (EU) rules will start to apply that impact the way in which banks or payment services providers verify their customers identity and validate specific payment instructions. The new rules, called Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), are intended to enhance the security of payments and limit fraud during this authentication process.

The FCA has today agreed an 18-month plan to implement SCA with the e-commerce industry of card issuers, payments firm and online retailers. The plan reflects the recent opinion of the European Banking Authority (EBA) which set out that more time was needed to implement SCA given the complexity of the requirements, a lack of preparedness and the potential for a significant impact on consumers.

Jonathan Davidson, Executive Director for Supervision – Retail and Authorisations, said:

'The FCA has been working with the industry to put in place stronger means of ensuring that anyone seeking to make payments is not a fraudster. While these measures will reduce fraud, we want to make sure that they won’t cause material disruption to consumers themselves; so we have agreed a phased plan for their timely introduction'.

The FCA will not take enforcement action against firms if they do not meet the relevant requirements for SCA from 14 September 2019 in areas covered by the agreed plan, where there is evidence that they have taken the necessary steps to comply with the plan. At the end of the 18-month period, the FCA expects all firms to have made the necessary changes and undertaken the required testing to apply SCA.