The Consumer Duty came into force on 31 July 2023, heralding a whole new world of regulation across retail financial services. Take a look at our resources for a refresh of the rules or to access the outcomes of our value assessments.
Resources
Key considerations
We've summarised the four outcomes as well as culture, evidence and monitoring below. For more detail take a look at our Consumer Duty - your questions answered guide
The products and services outcome requires firms to design products and services to deliver good outcomes for target audiences. This requires information from manufacturers including product characteristics, identified target markets and appropriate distribution strategies. The granularity of a manufacturer’s target markets will reflect the characteristics, complexity and risk of consumer harm of the product..
Product value assessments
The FCA expects adviser firms to keep under review the price and value of the service they provide to retail customers, including any products distributed that are manufactured by another party.
To do this, you'll need information from providers (manufacturers) on the intended target markets and appropriate distribution strategies. You'll also need confidence that the provider has reviewed the fair value of products and services and for open products, have shared the outcome of this value assessment.
Recording and noting the outcome of the value assessment is key. It's also important to add in any adviser charges and service to assess overall value right across the chain, as well as considering alignment of their target market with that of the product design. We've already made an allowance for a typical range of adviser charges when we carried out our product value assessments. As part of your Consumer Duty responsibilities, you'll need to make sure you're comfortable with the value and price of your service.