Navigate the uncertainties of Consumer Duty with our free Consumer Duty Board Report Template.
We all know that the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty regulations are now in effect. But two months down the line, are the regulations being implemented? How are we measuring the outcomes?
To answer that, let’s refresh ourselves with the basics: What is Consumer Duty?
Brought into play on 31 July 2023, the FCA’s Consumer Duty regulations laid out “higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services, and require[d] firms to put their customers’ needs first.”
The FCA introduced four specific rules for meeting these standards that Financial Services must uphold: communications must be clear, fair and not misleading; products and services must be fit for purpose, offer fair value and be targeted appropriately; customer service must meet consumers’ needs; and the interests of vulnerable consumers must be accounted for.
It seems simple enough and it’s obviously something that everyone is happy to get behind–who doesn’t want to provide value and put their customers first?
The challenges of Consumer Duty
The problem is that, even though the FCA is already taking its first action against banks and building societies, it hasn’t actually defined what metrics companies should be using to measure value for their consumers.
Consumer vulnerabilities aren’t black and white, they can experience multiple vulnerabilities at once. We also know that self-reporting is fallible and that customers often don’t understand that they’re in a situation that can impact their financial standing, or the support they receive.
In the same way that the advice gap impacts customers, companies are also unaware of the technology that can be integrated to help FS advisers to analyse and track their data, as well as provide evidence in order to meet Consumer Duty compliance requirements.
What technologies they have implemented haven’t always been effective at capturing the needs of the customer, lacking that human element that aids an advisor in identifying complaints and vulnerabilities.
Without specific metrics, it can be difficult to know where you’re going wrong when measuring your standing against Consumer Duty KPIs. Finding support from other members of the industry, who are looking to define, clarify, and support becomes key to you successfully meeting requirements.
Tech to track Consumer Duty KPIs
It’s why Aveni has put together a Consumer Duty Board Report template, which helps companies understand where they’re failing or succeeding. With clear visual representation, it becomes easier to take the necessary steps to raise your business to meet the FCA’s regulatory requirements.
From there, you can utilise technology such as Google’s EEAT score to understand how user-friendly and understandable your website is, CRM platforms like Intelliflo to keep track of the kind of communications are sent between advisers and customers, and whether those customers have taken appropriate action (e.g. clicked an advised link), or NPS management platforms like Rant and Rave that allow companies to capture, analyse, and act on customer feedback in real time can.
One of the best ways to track Consumer Duty compliance is by monitoring your customer interactions. Platforms like Aveni Detect monitor every customer call, providing comprehensive feedback and evidence-based reporting to keep you up to date with regulation requirements whilst also generating insightful analyses in minutes.
Consumer Duty Champions
Specifically trained in the art of Consumer Duty regulation, businesses are positioning Consumer Duty Champions alongside board members to keep Consumer Duty at the forefront of the business. As per FCA guidance, the Champion should be an independent, non-executive director where business size allows, and it will be their responsibility to regularly introduce the topic of Consumer Duty into the conversation.
Having a Consumer Duty Champion in place not only keeps Consumer Duty at the centre of your business, it also showcases that compliance and care is being levied at a Board level.
The Consumer Duty Board Report
We’ve released the Consumer Duty Board Report template, a free to download tool that can aid you in bringing simple solutions to uncertain expectations. The selection of reporting tables and charts will provide a clear understanding of where your business stands within each of the Consumer Duty’s focus areas and help you improve your standards to meet your customers’ individual needs.
Download the Board Report template here.