Consumer Duty is now live and months, possibly years of work that has been done by financial institutions across the UK should now be giving these businesses a certain sense of satisfaction that once again they have made their business ‘safe’ from FCA scrutiny. A headline in a recent Sunday Times read ‘Better Service, Fewer Rip-offs – new rules aiming to fix our financial woes’ which must make you wonder…’who has told the customers/consumers about how important they have become?’

With so much focus on great outcomes for customers, fair value for customers, improved customer understanding and access to the correct level of customer support it is vital that time, effort and expertise is provided to develop your staff to reach new levels of customer focus. Quality Assurance that focuses on assessing customer outcomes is an invaluable tool for identifying where staff need to develop to reach these previously unmeasured standards and principles.

In 2022 the Financial Conduct Authority issued fines in excess of £215 million to businesses large and small for breaches of their rules and regulations.

So why is this important? In recent times the regulator has been very active in supporting the introduction of a shift in data protection governance with GDPR and this month (July 2023) sees the introduction of ‘Consumer Duty’ which the regulator has launched.

The speed of change and update with which the regulator operates means that stopping on a regular basis and asking yourself ‘just how healthy is my business?’ must become a vital part of your long-term business strategy.