POUND NOTES
■ More than half (54%) of people are reducing their energy use and nearly a third (31%) plan to cut back on essentials such as food and clothing, a survey has found.
Around half (51%) are cutting back on “non-essentials” such as eating out and going to the cinema, and 41% are shopping around to find better prices, according to the Building Societies Association (BSA).
Some 6% of homeowners said they are worried about paying their mortgage, while 24% of people who are not homeowners are worried about paying housing costs, according to the survey of more than 2,000 people in June.
A fifth of people are putting off bigger purchases like cars, household items and holidays, and a similar proportion (21%) are expecting to use savings to deal with rising costs.
more to look at the
impact of
Banks and building societies will have to do more to look at the impacts of reductions to their services, such as cutting branch opening times, under City regulator proposals.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that some banks and building societies are not doing enough to properly understand the impacts when they make changes and to keep their customers informed.
The regulator’s financial lives survey, in 2020, found that around a quarter (27%) of adults with a day-to-day account regularly used a branch. One in six had a branch they previously used regularly close down in the previous 12 months.
The FCA is proposing to define a “partial closure” as a longterm reduction in branch opening hours or days or a reduction in branch services, such as the removal of a counter, where this would have a significant impact on customers.