IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jcopol/v41y2018i3d10.1007_s10603-018-9375-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stakeholder Conceptions of Later-Life Consumer Vulnerability in the Financial Services Industry: Beyond Financial Capability?

Author

Listed:
  • Louise Overton

    (University of Birmingham)

  • Lorna Fox O’Mahony

    (University of Essex)

Abstract

When the newly re-constituted UK financial services regulator–the Financial Conduct Authority–was launched in 2013, it promised to adopt a new approach to its “consumer protection” objectives. This shift included articulating a new conception of consumer vulnerability, beyond narrow, individualistic, conceptions of vulnerability based on (limited) financial capability, towards a broader conception which takes account of the connection between individual circumstances, situations, and market factors in causing or exacerbating manifestations of consumer vulnerability. Drawing on new empirical research with later-life financial services stakeholders and consumers, this article examines the extent to which equity release stakeholder perceptions of consumer vulnerability align to this new regulatory philosophy, and to the realities of consumer experiences. Our findings indicate that, in contrast to the FCA’s new, broader understanding of consumer vulnerability, the stakeholders in our study tended to understand vulnerability through a narrower lens, focusing predominantly on “information vulnerability,” or on whether or not the consumer “knows what they are doing.” This conception supports the assumption that providing financial advice is sufficient intervention to ensure good consumer outcomes. This assumption is also at odds with our earlier consumer study findings, which revealed a much wider set of vulnerabilities amongst equity release consumers. We reflect on the implications of these findings for the development of the later-life financial services industry, in ways that can more appropriately serve the needs of this consumer population.

Suggested Citation

  • Louise Overton & Lorna Fox O’Mahony, 2018. "Stakeholder Conceptions of Later-Life Consumer Vulnerability in the Financial Services Industry: Beyond Financial Capability?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 273-295, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:41:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10603-018-9375-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10603-018-9375-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10603-018-9375-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10603-018-9375-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    2. Lorna O’Mahony & Christian Twigg-Flesner & Folarin Akinbami, 2015. "Conceptualizing the Consumer of Financial Services: a New Approach?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 111-117, June.
    3. Lorna Fox O'mahony & Louise Overton, 2015. "Asset-based Welfare, Equity Release and the Meaning of the Owned Home," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 392-412, June.
    4. Peter Cartwright, 2015. "Understanding and Protecting Vulnerable Financial Consumers," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 119-138, June.
    5. Adele Atkinson & Stephen McKay & Sharon Collard & Elaine Kempson, 2007. "Levels of Financial Capability in the UK," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 29-36, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julia Rötzmeier-Keuper, 2020. "Consumer Vulnerability: Overview And Synthesis Of The Current State Of Knowledge And Future Service-Related Research Directions," Working Papers Dissertations 65, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. M. L. Roark & L. Fox O’Mahony, 2023. "Real Property Transactions in the Network Society: Platform Real Estate, Housing Hactivism, and the Re-scaling of Public and Private Power," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 445-463, December.
    3. Souheila Kaabachi & Selima Ben Mrad & Ahmed Anis Charfi & Monyédodo Régis Kpossa & Bay O’ Leary, 2024. "Drivers and consequences of consumer alienation in the French retail banking sector," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(4), pages 888-908, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dibb, Sally & Merendino, Alessandro & Aslam, Hussan & Appleyard, Lindsey & Brambley, William, 2021. "Whose rationality? Muddling through the messy emotional reality of financial decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 826-838.
    2. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 2002. "Political economics and public finance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1549-1659, Elsevier.
    3. Scott Gehlbach & Konstantin Sonin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "Businessman Candidates," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 718-736, July.
    4. Thomas Wyrick & Roger Arnold, 1989. "Earmarking as a deterrent to rent-seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 283-291, March.
    5. Pavel Ciaian & Ján Pokrivčák & Dušan Drabik, 2008. "Prečo sú niektoré sektory v tranzitívnych ekonomikách menej reformované ako ostatné? prípad výskumu a vzdelávania v oblasti ekonómie [Why some sectors of transition economies are less reformed than," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2008(6), pages 819-836.
    6. Kris James Mitchener & Matthew Jaremski, 2014. "The Evolution of Bank Supervision: Evidence from U.S. States," NBER Working Papers 20603, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Masciandaro, D. & Nieto, M. & Prast, H.M., 2007. "Financial Governance of Banking Supervision," Other publications TiSEM 65d7ff26-dca3-4da3-86ff-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric Rasmusen, 2013. "Lowering the Bar to Raise the Bar: Licensing Difficulty and Attorney Quality in Japan," Working Papers 2013-12, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    9. Grant H. Lewis, 2017. "Effects of federal socioeconomic contracting preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 763-783, December.
    10. Arvind Magesan & Matthew A. Turner, 2008. "The Value of Information in Public Decisions," Working Papers tecipa-345, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    11. Arblaster, Margaret & Zhang, Chrystal, 2020. "Liberalisation of airport air traffic control: A case study of Spain," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 38-47.
    12. Deniz Igan & Prachi Mishra & Thierry Tressel, 2012. "A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(1), pages 195-230.
    13. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Entrepreneurship and Institutions: A Bidirectional Relationship," Working Paper Series 1153, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 05 May 2017.
    14. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    15. Marijn Sax & Natali Helberger & Nadine Bol, 2018. "Health as a Means Towards Profitable Ends: mHealth Apps, User Autonomy, and Unfair Commercial Practices," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 103-134, June.
    16. Hahn, Robert & Evans, Lewis, 2010. "Regulating Dynamic Markets: Progress in Theory and Practice," Working Paper Series 4052, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    17. Sauro Mocetti & Giacomo Roma & Enrico Rubolino, 2022. "Knocking on Parents’ Doors: Regulation and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(2), pages 525-554.
    18. Koichi Hamada & Asahi Noguchi, 2005. "The Role of Preconceived Ideas in Macroeconomic Policy: Japan's Experiences in the Two Deflationary Periods," Working Papers 908, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    19. Fernando Borraz & Juan Dubra & Daniel Ferrés & Leandro Zipitría, 2009. "Supermarket Entry and its effect on small stores in Montevideo, 1998 to 2007," Documentos de trabajo 2009005, Banco Central del Uruguay.
    20. Matthias Finger & Rolf W. Künneke (ed.), 2011. "International Handbook of Network Industries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12961, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:41:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10603-018-9375-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.