UK Government has published a consultation document on Simple Financial Products. The consultation sets out proposals for financial products that will help promote personal responsibility, enable consumers to compare products and understand product features more clearly.
Consultation proposes: industry and consumer-led development of a new category of simple financial products, with standardized features; that the first simple products to be developed should be deposit savings and life and income protection insurance products; and that simple products should not be subject to price-caps, and provision should be voluntary.
The British Government is now seeking input from consumer groups, the financial services industry, and other interested parties, to develop simple products further.
Financial secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban said that the Government is committed to helping consumers take responsibility for their finances. In order to do this they need to be able to make sense of the huge range of financial products in the market. Simple financial products will help them to do that, by providing a safe choice and a common benchmark against which other products can be compared.
"This is one of a series of reforms to ensure that consumers get a better deal from financial services," Hoban added.