Introducing the new Consumer Duty 

A company must “act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers”.

In practice, this means companies must be pro-active in making sure customers are getting the best outcomes. 

The FCA wants employees of financial firms to ask themselves questions such as: “am I treating my customers as I would expect to be treated in their circumstances?” or “are my customers getting the outcomes from my products and services that they would expect?”.

Our staff need to fully understand our products and services, as well as our customers’ behaviour, so we can see they are getting what they should from us.

Where we see something isn’t working as it should, we will do something to fix it, rather than waiting for a complaint.

This approach will run through the whole company, from individual sales staff who have direct contact with customers to people involved in strategic planning.

These three rules set out how companies should act to deliver good outcomes for their customers.

The FCA said it wants financial firms to: 

• Act in good faith towards retail customers
• Avoid causing foreseeable harm to retail customers
• Enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives

The FCA has set out a series of rules on how it expects financial companies to behave in four important areas. It says that:

• Products and services – products and services must be fit for purpose
• Price and value – products and services must represent fair value
• Consumer understanding – consumers must be supported in making informed decisions
• Consumer support – support must meet consumers’ needs throughout

If all goes to plan, you won’t notice an immediate change in any of our interactions. We’d like to think we already put our customers first and that our products and services are fairly priced and excellent. 

We wouldn’t sell them if we didn’t.

However, there are always things people can do to improve. For example, we’re working on our communication skills and we’re trying to keep our writing clear and simple to understand.

But, for the most part, it’s about us being able to prove why the products we sell are the best or the most suitable for you, our customers.