Product Management & Governance

The regulator has exposed serious weaknesses in the way some financial services firms approach product design and governance. It has urged businesses to introduce rigorous stress testing to prove the value of products, and to give clearer information to the customer about the risks involved.

Consumer protection and market integrity are two of the FCA’s chief concerns, so you must listen to your customers’ needs more than ever. This isn’t about complaint resolution. It’s about taking a proactive approach to ensuring your customers get the best deal, right from the start.

The regulator is clamping down on poor product policies. You’ll need to prove your products respond to real consumer needs and are designed to meet their long-term requirements.

Failure to comply could result in the restriction of product features, a block on the promotion of certain products or an outright ban (with serious reputational and commercial repercussions).

So join us for this interactive one-day course. You’ll learn how to truly place your customer at the heart of your product policies and develop the framework that allows you to prove to the FCA you did so.

•Get the latest FCA position on this issue
•Through case studies identify the risks of an informal and unstructured approach to product management
•Learn what information should be considered when making product decisions
•Appreciate the importance of involving consumers in the process
•Identify the risks and controls that any framework should encompass
•Establish a governance framework for key decisions
•Understand the responsibilities of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd levels of defence in product management
•Learn how to involve affected stakeholders and convince them to take action

Understanding the focus on product management 
•An overview of the regulator’s thinking
•The goals of the FCA
•Good or poor practice? Identifying indicators
•Case study: Review a firm’s approach to product management and the steps required to comply

Determining key elements of a product management process
•An overview of the product development process
•The life stages of a product
•Highlighting key steps, from new product development to withdrawal
•How to evidence the fair treatment of customers
•Exercise: Understanding the risks and controls in a product management process

How to use customer research to evidence fairness
•Types of customer research
•Which research areas should be informed by customer behaviour?
•When is research valuable from a risk control perspective?
•Using examples to recognise when customer input is ignored

Building a governance framework around products
•Making sure the audit trail is fool proof
•Understanding when escalation is needed
•Case study exercise: Examine the brief and decide at which stage board approval is needed

The roles of compliance, risk and audit in the product management process
•Clarifying the roles of the first, second and third lines of defence
•Involvement in new product development
•Product monitoring activity
•What are the key areas of complaint, persistency and declined claims?
•How to structure reports for different audiences
•Case study: Identifying the responsibilities of each party and deciding what action to take

How to sell the process to the business 
•The reputational and financial risks
•The impact of FCA demands and enforcement actions
•How to demonstrate the upside of a framework
•Working with others to achieve compliance

This session will be delivered by Stephen Fairclough. With over 20 years training experience in financial services, Stephen is well placed to support you across a range of consultancy and developmental activities.

He is a former Head of Education for HSBC covering the UK and Europe, responsible for regulatory and financial crime related compliance learning, and has first-hand experience of meeting logistical deadlines complicated by volume, complexity and geography. His time at HSBC was during intense scrutiny from regulators and government functions during the bank’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement.

With other roles ranging from advising customers within a high-street retail branch, to Senior Vice President responsible for Global Risk & Compliance training at a US-based bank, Stephen’s range of experience is adaptable to your business. He also worked in the Insurance Firms division at the Financial Conduct Authority (in the FSA days) where he was the divisional expert for the rules and outcomes required under the Training & Competence handbook. Stephen won the Thomson Reuters award for “Most Effective Compliance Training at a Regulated Firm” in 2010.

The HSBC role, along with five years at Barclays in their Private Clients and Wealth functions, has seen Stephen work with retail, commercial, wholesale and private banking channels. While enjoying the design and delivery of training to an audience either live or virtually, Stephen can also work with your compliance, HR and operational teams to build or enhance your learning framework, ensuring appropriate systems, controls, checks and balances are in place to withstand any robust regulatory scrutiny, as well as delivering sustainable commercial benefits to your business.

This session qualifies for 6 CPD hours and is endorsed by the CISI for CPD requirements. CISI members pay a discounted rate and can book via the link below. To receive your discount as a CISI member, please enter the discount code provided by the CISI.