Last week, Macmillan launched their Banking on Change campaign, calling for banks, building societies and other financial service providers to have a legal duty of care to their customer.

Macmillan report that:

  • Only 11% of people with cancer tell their bank about their diagnosis. This means people often do not get the support they need to manage their money worries, even though their bank could help and stop them falling into financial difficulty
  • If banks and building societies had a legal duty of care towards their customers, it would give people with cancer confidence to disclose their diagnosis, knowing that they could trust their bank to act in their best interests
  • The Government’s Financial Guidance and Claims Bill – currently going through Parliament – provides an opportunity to change the law to introduce a duty of care for banks and building societies.

Macmillan have written an open letter to UK Finance, a regulatory body representing nearly 300 banking and financial organisations, asking them to support the Macmillan campaign. Please do take a look at the letter and sign the letter here to help Macmillan demonstrate the strength of support for a duty of care to be introduced.

For more information, contact Grace Brownfield at Macmillan.