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After years of consultation and planning, the Consumer Duty came into force on 31st July 2023, demanding higher standards of customer care and calling upon FCA-regulated financial businesses to ‘act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers’. Central to this vision is the pledge that
The FCA has published the findings from its review into later life mortgages after working with the largest intermediaries of these products to improve their advice processes. As a result of this multi-firm initiative, the regulator found that almost 400 financial promotions required removal
With falling energy prices, economists are forecasting that the UK’s inflation rate will have fallen to 5% by the end of 2023. Whilst this should be a welcome relief to UK consumers, many will still be feeling the pinch from higher prices, particularly from the effect of food price inflatio
The FCA has reiterated the importance of firms being alert to indicators of potential vulnerability for clients seeking advice on defined benefit pensions. Its latest guidance provides businesses with a summary of possible circumstances Defined Benefit (DB) customers could find themselves in
Mortgage firms should act now to support ‘challenged’ borrowers who may struggle to repay at maturity, in planning for this risk of serious customer detriment. The number of borrowers on interest-only mortgages is lower than 1 million, consumer research from the FCA has revealed. This is
In the FCA’s Business Plan for 2023/24, it prioritised reducing and preventing consumer harm, particularly in in financial promotions. The FCA has now published its Guidance Consultation on Financial Promotions on social media. Whilst firms may consider this to be aimed at ‘finfluencers’ and u
Fixed-rate mortgages continue to dominate the headlines, as the average two-year fixed rate rose to 6.66% earlier this month - the highest level in 15 years. So, with more and more households struggling to make ends meet, the focus remains on mortgage firms to demonstrate how they can help these con
An unfortunate but sadly unavoidable side effect of the current cost-of-living crisis is the increase in consumers who will face difficulty in meeting their ongoing mortgage repayments. In the first quarter of 2023, 76,630 homeowner mortgages were in arrears of 2.5% or more of their outstandi
The number of borrowers struggling to keep up with bill and credit payments has risen by 3.1 million in May 2023 when compared to the same time last year, the FCA has reported. These figures were released as the regulator doubled-down its commitment in supporting those consumers in financial
The FCA has today launched its Business Plan 2023/24, outlining its regulatory priorities, concerns and objectives for the coming 12 months. The wide-ranging plan seeks to further the regulator’s ongoing mission to improve customer outcomes and promote greater accountability within financial servi
As the new FCA’s S165 data collection for Principal firms comes into action this Thursday 8th December 2022, let’s remind ourselves what is changing – and why it’s critical to act now. Last year it was widely reported across the press that David Cameron lobbied for Greensill Capital (where h
Last week Consumer Duty expert and TCC’s Associate Director, Neil Dethick joined a specialist panel that continued a Duty focussed webinar series, hosted by Recordsure in partnership with BSA. Host, Recordsure’s Chief Product Officer Garry Evans, was joined by Ex-FCA and now Senior Produc
On Monday, 31st October 2022, TCC’s Associate Director and Consumer Duty expert Neil Dethick joined the first of three Consumer Duty focused webinars, hosted in partnership with the BSA and Recordsure. The specialist panel – featuring Recordsure’s Programme Director Adeline Han and Chie
The hugely significant shift towards the FCA’s new Consumer Duty will culminate in its first deadline on Monday 31st October, when Implementation Plans needs to be ready for regulatory scrutiny. Under the Duty’s overarching Consumer Principle of ‘A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for re
In a matter of days, the Consumer Duty’s first critical deadline of having Implementation Plans ready for review will be upon us. Last week, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director at the FCA, Emily Sheppard spoke about the Duty at the CISI/Financial Planning Conference 2022 and explained
With less than three weeks to go until firms need to have a Consumer Duty Implementation Plan that is ready for FCA scrutiny, we continue our series considering the Duty’s four outcomes. After Nick McGruer, Head for Advisers, Wealth and Pensions at the FCA shared that independent financial
As the weeks continue to slip away, we spotlight the FCA’s four Consumer Duty outcomes: products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support. Here, Neil Dethick, Associate Director at TCC, focuses on outcome two: price and value. Ahead of the imminent Duty
The new Consumer Duty, which applies to existing FCA regulated products and services, as well as any new products expected to launch, is nearly here. Under the Duty, firms are required to have an Implementation Plan ready for scrutiny in just a few weeks where ‘firms will need to assess and eviden
Times are changing, and this can seem an overwhelming period for FCA-regulated firms as they get to grips with the new Consumer Duty and explore how they’ll become compliant. The pressing Implementation Plan deadline of Monday 31st October is now only a matter of weeks away, so we’re taking a cl
