Independent car finance provider MotoNovo has followed other funders, associations and lawyers in a push for dealers to accept and act upon the transfer of consumer credit regulation to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Karl Werner, head of sales and marketing at MotoNovo, called the change of regulator "an opportunity, not a burden" but said company analysis demonstrated a "worryingly slow response by dealers and lenders to the challenge of being ready for the FCA changes next year".

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The FCA will take over regulation from the Office of Fair Trading as of 1 April 2014 and is running a programme of Interim Permissions (since 31 October) for companies with a current license to offer consumer credit to continue to do so until fully authorised under its regime. MotoNovo added in a company statement that, in the initial stages after 1 April, there would be no complete list of FCA-authorised businesses, meaning dealers would have to demonstrate their status to finance companies.

As of early November, nearly half of all dealerships surveyed by MotoNovo had yet to begin applying for interim permission, with roughly a tenth having done nothing toward application.

‘A loaded gun‘

Since September, fellow independent lender Alphera Financial Services has advised its dealer and broker partners to check their credit licence status, the Finance & Leasing Association has warned members the FCA’s rules "go far beyond the payday sector" and legal services provider Addleshaw Goddard has listed six points for funders to follow before April.

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The Consumer Credit Trade Association conducted a two-day conference in early November to address the advent of the FCA. While the first day focused on payday – or "high-cost, short-term" lending – the second was directed at consumer credit provision in general. Among many speakers, Mark Smith of The Car Finance Company stressed his company’s willingness to comply with the FCA but surmised the apprehension in the industry: "If you give someone a loaded gun, somebody will get shot".

MotoNovo has a recent history of encouraging dealers to appreciate change and opportunities within the industry, including making the most of online marketing and advancing retail finance technology such as electronic signatures and web-based calculators.

Update, 26 November: MotoNovo has published a guide to the FCA, available here.

Further coverage of the CCTA conference is published in the November issue of Motor Finance magazine.

richard.brown@timetric.com