Policy submission

HMT Consultation on Regulation of Buy-Now, Pay-Later Consultation on draft legislation - Which? Response

Which?’s response to HM Treasury’s consultation on draft legislation for BNPL. We repeated our call for BNPL to be regulated urgently and shared our concerns following the government’s decision to exclude merchant provided BNPL credit from the scope of regulation.
1 min read
Fatima BelloPolicy Adviser

Summary:

  • Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) must be regulated urgently, without any further delay. HM Treasury should ensure regulation is in place at the earliest opportunity.
  • We are concerned that HM Treasury has decided to exclude all merchant-provided BNPL credit from regulation. The potential harms to consumers are similar regardless of who provides the credit. Some merchants with considerable market power could be excluded from regulation. We believe this will lead to consumer confusion.
  • The financial promotions regime will need to be robustly supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) given that merchants will not need to be regulated by the FCA directly. HM Treasury should ensure the FCA has powers to amend obligations on merchants should the financial promotions regime fail to deliver appropriate protections for consumers.
Download our full response here

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