AGL 37.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.68%)
AIRLINK 124.10 Increased By ▲ 2.59 (2.13%)
BOP 5.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-3.08%)
CNERGY 3.75 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.79%)
DFML 40.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-1%)
DGKC 87.10 Increased By ▲ 2.50 (2.96%)
FCCL 33.98 Increased By ▲ 1.28 (3.91%)
FFBL 66.01 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (0.78%)
FFL 10.20 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.49%)
HUBC 104.45 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.63%)
HUMNL 13.45 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (1.51%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (7.9%)
KOSM 6.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-3.53%)
MLCF 38.84 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (3.57%)
NBP 60.35 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.17%)
OGDC 179.65 Increased By ▲ 7.40 (4.3%)
PAEL 24.97 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.69%)
PIBTL 5.71 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.18%)
PPL 153.00 Increased By ▲ 11.31 (7.98%)
PRL 22.79 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.31%)
PTC 14.91 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (1.15%)
SEARL 66.85 Increased By ▲ 2.29 (3.55%)
TELE 7.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.82%)
TOMCL 35.70 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.56%)
TPLP 7.32 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.41%)
TREET 13.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.48%)
TRG 50.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.80 (-1.55%)
UNITY 26.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.75%)
WTL 1.23 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.82%)
BR100 9,717 Increased By 233.5 (2.46%)
BR30 29,237 Increased By 866.2 (3.05%)
KSE100 90,860 Increased By 1893.1 (2.13%)
KSE30 28,458 Increased By 630.4 (2.27%)

Five British financial services trade associations, including the British Bankers' Association (BBA) and Payments UK, are set to merge to give them more lobbying clout and to cut costs. Britain's banks proposed earlier this year merging nine associations and set up a panel to review options, which on Friday proposed bringing together five bodies and creating close ties with two more.
The panel proposed merging the BBA, Payments UK, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the UK Cards Association and the Asset Based Finance Association. Nine of Britain's big banks, including HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays, and building society Nation-wide last year told the trade associations they needed to consider merging as they often duplicated lobbying efforts. They also said the associations needed a stronger voice on European regulation and should also cut costs.
"A new trade association would be able to represent the industry more effectively because its voice would carry greater weight," Ed Richards, the former communications regulator who was appointed to lead the review, said. "Having a single point of contact will also be welcomed by policymakers and will reduce duplication of effort." The review also said the new group could cut trade association fees by up to 30 percent.
The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation think-tank has estimated banks spend upwards of 50 million pounds ($76.25 million) on the top 10 trade associations they belong to. The think-tank has also found significant overlap in membership of trade associations, with about 60 percent of UK Payments Council members also members of the BBA. The review said the new group would become a close partner with UK Payments Administration and Financial Fraud Action UK. The Building Societies Association and the Finance & Leasing Association said they did not want to join the group. The review did not propose including some other groups it had previously considered for the merger. The trade groups are expected to vote on the merger by the end of February and the new association is expected to be launched in May and be fully operational by November 2016.

Copyright Reuters, 2015

Comments

Comments are closed.