Ahead of the FCA Consumer Duty deadline on Monday (31st), Alastair Black at abrdn has highlighted what’s next for advice firms.
Alastair Black, Head of Savings Policy, abrdn, said: “This deadline is not the end of the Consumer Duty journey. It’s just the beginning.
“Looking ahead, it’s critical that firms remember what Consumer Duty is really all about – embedding good customer outcomes in their cultures.
“The immediate thing they should be doing is completing any outstanding items on their implementation plans in good time. But more broadly, they need to regularly, proactively, be interrogating their proposition against Consumer Duty’s principles. One potentially simple way to do this could be by putting in place regular (at least annual) meetings to assess what they provide. Here, they should be reviewing management information and feedback to check that their services continue to deliver for clients, and checking for any changes in the external landscape that would require them to adapt their proposition.
“Importantly the FCA is not trying to catch advisers out. The purpose of this legislation is about trying to make client propositions even better and raise standards across the financial services sector – something that will only be good news for clients and advisers alike.”
