“Firms may be unnecessarily limiting themselves, and older borrowers, by having rigid policies or systems and controls that are unable to consider individual circumstances, potentially resulting in unintended exclusion of credit-worthy consumers in the target market.”
The FCA also looked at lasting powers of attorney and found that in 2016/17 648,318 of these were registered with the Office of the Public Guardian in England and Wales, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year.
But the regulator said there is still a problem with engagement in this area, with too many people relying on informal workarounds such as sharing their PINs and passwords with a loved one.
damian.fantato@ft.com