'Firms must be alive to challenges'

Andrew Gething, managing director at MorganAsh

“The news of a surprise jump in inflation last month was clearly enough of an excuse for the Bank of England to make another increase. Without this, the expectation was the MPC would look to hold rates, signalling that this may well be the last for a while.

“This will be of little comfort though to the more than 1.6 million households on either tracker or variable mortgages. Thanks to today’s decision, they will once again see an almost immediate impact on their monthly mortgage payments, which is on top of a rise in other outgoings, mainly food costs.

“At all levels across financial services, it’s once again a reminder that firms must be alive to challenges facing those vulnerable customers who will be most susceptible to harm — after all, the upcoming Consumer Duty regulation brings with it the obligation to not only identify, but monitor the vulnerable characteristics of all customers throughout the lifetime of the product.”