July 2023 marked the coming of the New Consumer Duty coming into force for all new and existing products and services available.
The FCA has stated their approach will be to prioritise the most serious of breaches, and act swiftly and assertively where it finds evidence of harm, or risk of harm to consumers, so it is imperative to act accordingly.
An FCA survey showed that a lot of the firms in the sections covered believed they were on track to fully implement the new Consumer Duty on time. However, there was still work to be done for 23% of the firms surveyed.
The results also showed that retail finance providers and debt advice firms scored significantly lower than other firms on engagement, understanding, and implementation progress. Due to these findings, the FCA have issued further direct communications to these firms and is working with industry bodies to help amplify messages.
The FCA has also stated that Firms that have not been taking the Duty seriously and are a long way from meeting its requirements must make strenuous efforts in the next month to accelerate their implementation work. These firms must prioritise work that is likely to have the greatest impact on consumer outcomes.
If your firm still needs to identify gaps in your Consumer Duty, then take ComplyPortal’s Consumer Duty Readiness Assessment where our regulatory consultants have prepared questions and scoring to guide you through assessing your readiness. Our assessment is broken up into 7 scoring questionnaires covering the following:
- Corporate Governance
- Customer Identification
- Existing Products and Services
- New Products and Services
- Price and Value
- Consumer Understanding and Support
- Staff Training
Our readiness assessment is just the start though. Our expert consultants at Complyport are helping to make sure that firms are compliant with the Consumer Duty, with support including:
- High-level Consumer Duty Assessment Report- Using our online assessment tool, Complyport will undertake a review of your firm and provide a report of where it is with its Vulnerable Customer Management (“VCM”) and Consumer Duty implementation.
- Ongoing support- Complyport can also provide firms with support now, and on an ongoing basis, to ensure full compliance with PS22/9. Our ongoing support services including Policy review and authoring, SM&CR advice, reviews of product offerings and Financial Promotions and more
Find out more by visiting our website or book a demo today.
