Covid has hit small retail lenders hard, finds FCA research

By Neasa MacErlean

Retail lenders are the solo-regulated firms most likely to have seen a coronavirus-related decrease in profitability, according to survey work carried out by the FCA. And some 58 per cent of them have experienced a negative impact on their business model as a result of the pandemic — making them the worst affected on that issue of the seven sectors in the regulator’s study.