How frustrating. A key announcement on recommendations to keep cash alive on our high street, due this Wednesday from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has been postponed.
Indeed, if my moles (reliable diggers) are to be believed, it looks as if any concrete proposals on preserving cash could now be delayed by up to six months.
All this, it seems, is a result of the 50 or so organisations involved in drafting the recommendations failing to come up with a ‘consensus view’. If this is the case, it could push back legislation – promised by the Government – until next autumn. An unacceptable state of affairs which the Treasury should not tolerate.
Cash in hand: Access to money should be guaranteed – for at least five years – and be enshrined in law
It doesn’t need working groups, full of unloved bankers, to work out what is needed to keep access to cash on our high street – a move that would help prevent the ruination of thousands of village and town centres already reeling from shop closures. We’ve spelt it out quite clearly – time and time again – in our Keep Our Cash campaign. And I will do so again.
Between them, the banks, the Post Office and payment companies need to ensure that every community nationwide has access to cash – through a local post office, a bank branch, a free-to-use cash machine or a cashback facility provided by a local shop.
Furthermore, such access to cash should be guaranteed – for at least five years – and be enshrined in law. It should apply to all communities of 1,000 people or more, with small businesses able to bank their takings securely and with out having to travel across county borders to do so. The time for procrastination is over.
The Treasury should take the bull by the horns and demand firm recommendations from the FCA that can then form the basis of legislation in the spring.
Without prompt action, I fear the end of cash as a payment mechanism – and the death of communities nationwide.
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One of the few personal finance cheers in recent months has been the resilience of global stock markets to the pandemic.
More so in the United States, where the dominance of the technology giants has pushed the S&P500 – the index of the country’s 500 leading listed companies – to ever new heights.
But with Covid-19 vaccines now in the UK and an end to economic dislocation in sight, the outlook for UK equities is more positive than negative.
Given the remarkable recovery of stock markets since the scary days of March – and the prospect of more gains to come – it is no surprise that online fund platforms and share dealing services are reporting strong demand for their services. Indeed, interest is so fervent that some platforms have struggled to cope – not just here but in the US, too. Research by financial publisher Boring Money suggests use of UK fund platforms could jump by as much as 16 per cent next year.
This is due to people looking to invest a slice of their cash balances for the first time. This money, it says, is currently earning a pittance wherever it is saved – with a bank, building society or the creaking NS&I whose current customer service issues dwarf those of the fund platforms (get your act together NS&I).
I trust that fund platforms are up to the task – and that recent customer service ‘issues’ have been solved. Nothing less will suffice.
