Caveat emptor, “buyer beware”, no longer applies. In turn, entrepreneurs no longer take their firms to float on the stock market because liquidity has dried up as investors are discouraged from taking risk by agents who fear regulatory intervention.
The recent Consumer Duty initiative by the FCA was yet another step in the wrong direction, adding a further layer of repetitive bureaucratic obstruction, instructing agents on how to treat their clients and counterparties.
The end consumer may not always be the client in an agency transaction. He or she may be the counterparty, as could be the case in the motor finance example. The FCA’s Consumer Duty rules create circumstances where the consumer is not the agent’s client but is still owed a duty of care by the agent.
As we know from domestic property transactions, we expect an estate agent to act in the interest of the vendor. In financial…
