Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction: conceptualising unconscionability in Europe
- PART I Conceptualising unconscionability
- PART II Conceptualising unconscionability in financial transactions
- 8 Usury and the judicial regulation of financial transactions in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England
- 9 Protection of the vulnerable in financial transactions – what the common law vitiating factors can do for you
- 10 Borrowers as consumers: new notions of unconscionability for domestic borrowers
- 11 Conceptualising and understanding fairness: lessons from and for financial services
- 12 Open the box: an exploration of the Financial Services Authority's model of fairness in consumer financial transactions
- 13 Conceptualising unconscionability in the context of risky financial transactions: how to converge public and private law approaches?
- 14 Conceptualising unconscionability in the post-Soviet era: the Lithuanian case of legal transplants
- 15 Bank loan contracts in Polish law: the legal position of the borrower
- 16 Financial contracts and ‘junk title’ purchases: a matter of (in)correct information
- 17 Kickback payments under MiFID: substantive or procedural standard of unconscionability?
- 18 Unfairness under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
- Conclusions
- Index
- References
11 - Conceptualising and understanding fairness: lessons from and for financial services
from PART II - Conceptualising unconscionability in financial transactions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction: conceptualising unconscionability in Europe
- PART I Conceptualising unconscionability
- PART II Conceptualising unconscionability in financial transactions
- 8 Usury and the judicial regulation of financial transactions in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England
- 9 Protection of the vulnerable in financial transactions – what the common law vitiating factors can do for you
- 10 Borrowers as consumers: new notions of unconscionability for domestic borrowers
- 11 Conceptualising and understanding fairness: lessons from and for financial services
- 12 Open the box: an exploration of the Financial Services Authority's model of fairness in consumer financial transactions
- 13 Conceptualising unconscionability in the context of risky financial transactions: how to converge public and private law approaches?
- 14 Conceptualising unconscionability in the post-Soviet era: the Lithuanian case of legal transplants
- 15 Bank loan contracts in Polish law: the legal position of the borrower
- 16 Financial contracts and ‘junk title’ purchases: a matter of (in)correct information
- 17 Kickback payments under MiFID: substantive or procedural standard of unconscionability?
- 18 Unfairness under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
- Conclusions
- Index
- References
Summary
Introducing fairness
‘Fairness’ is at the heart of many requirements placed on suppliers when dealing with their consumers. Some measures use the term ‘fair’, while others use similar expressions like ‘reasonable’. Frequently the requirements are placed on all sectors; sometimes they are more limited. They may have their basis in statute, in the common law, in regulatory guidance or in codes of practice. Traders wishing to comply with their obligations must negotiate a complex web of requirements.
The requirement to be fair plays a particularly prominent role in the regulation of financial services firms' (hereafter ‘firms’) dealings with their consumers. An examination of this subject is particularly apt for a number of reasons. First, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently set much store by its ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) Initiative. TCF forms an important part of the FSA's efforts to place more emphasis on ‘principles-based regulation’. Secondly, recent statutory developments have imposed new fairness obligations on firms when dealing with consumers. These initiatives increase the already complex and fragmented regulatory framework in the UK.
The purpose of this chapter is to consider the meaning(s) of fairness in the context of the relationship between firms and consumers. It begins by examining the principal general statutory provisions on fairness, and then moves on to those provisions dealing specifically with financial services. Next, the main part of the chapter examines the key elements of fairness.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Unconscionability in European Private Financial TransactionsProtecting the Vulnerable, pp. 205 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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