Breaking down the new Consumer Duty

The newly proposed Consumer Duty (CD) is a topic on everyone's agenda at the moment, especially with the Policy Statement being produced on 27th July. With an increased focus on the end consumer and a key consideration being how firms treat their most vulnerable customers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has clearly laid out its expectation in not one, but two consultation papers on this particular topic. CP 21/13 set the scene, laying out the FCA's thinking and asking for views from regulated firms and CP 21/36 delivered feedback on the initial paper, whilst also delivering more focused thinking from the FCA on what the new CD would bring to firms and individuals alike. This will be the first of a two part series, where we initially consider the published CPs and discuss what this means from a personal perspective, with the second part of the series (to be broadcast in Q3) considering the published Policy Statement. The FCA have clearly stated that the aim for introducing the new Consumer Duty is to drive a fundamental shift in industry mindset, but what does this really mean and what part does each individual, regardless of their role and status within an organisation, have to play in this? We will be considering the new Duty from that personal perspective and what this means for firms and their people processes. Clare Beardmore, Head of Broker and Propositions at Legal & General Mortgage Club will chair the webinar as part of the discussion. Hosting the webinar is John Somerville, the Head of Financial Services at the London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), joined by Julie Pardy, Director of Regulation, and Nic Dent, Head of Customer Engagement at Worksmart Ltd.