UPDATE 1-Britain tells banks to prepare for pandemic debt pile

(Updates figures, adds UK Finance comment)

By Huw Jones

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - British banks need to accelerate
preparations for dealing with businesses unable to repay money
they borrowed to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, the
national financial sector regulator said on Tuesday.

Over 900,000 businesses have taken out state-backed loans
worth around 38 billion pounds ($48 billion) under schemes
introduced to help companies deal with the impact of lockdowns,
banking industry body UK Finance said on Tuesday.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chair Charles Randell said
some of the debt incurred would turn out to be unaffordable and
this would need to be tackled fast to avoid hurting a recovery.

"Lenders will need to scale their arrears-handling functions
quickly, and invest in training and controls," Randell told an
online meeting with the chairs of Britain's banks.

"There needs to be an appropriate dispute resolution system,
and we are working with the Financial Ombudsman Service and the
Business Banking Resolution Service to ensure that there is
capacity to deal with the volumes we may see," he said.

Banks were criticised for being slow initially in building
up capacity to dole out loans, sparking complaints from small
companies struggling to stay afloat.

"We can't allow this to become a replay of the 2008 crisis
where the treatment of some small business borrowers did such
serious damage to people and to trust in financial services,"
Randell said.

UK Finance Chief Executive Stephen Jones said companies
should consider their ability to repay before asking for a loan.

Randell said the pandemic's impact on markets had added to
questions about the value of some high-cost and riskier
investment products, he said, adding: "We will be saying more
about the issue of high-risk investments in the near future."

($1 = 0.7920 pounds)
(Reporting by Huw Jones;
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Edmund Blair)