Yalini Pathy

UK businesses are losing £70bn(i) annually by not attracting and retaining the custom of disabled people and their families, according to a new research report from global consulting firm, AlixPartners, and Project Nemo, the fintech disability inclusion campaign. The new report, titled ‘Improving Accessibility in Payments’, highlights the challenges that disabled customers face when making in-store payments, and the substantial business revenue opportunities that are being missed as a result.

There have been huge advances in technologies to automate in-person payments and checkout experiences in recent years – think contactless, self-checkout, multi-function touchscreens, mobile wallets, and pay-by-app for parking. But the advances that make life easier for many often do little to help disabled people, and in some cases can make life harder.

Treating customers fairly is not a new concept in financial services; it has always been part of the expectations of authorised firms, reflected in regulatory principles for many years, and launched as a specific initiative by the Financial Services Authority in 2006. However, the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Consumer Duty, launched more than 15 years later, has elevated the expected standard of care, conduct, and culture of retail financial firms beyond existing regulation in the UK.