Consumer Duty Committee

Industry challenge

In July 2022, the FCA set out the final rules and guidance for a new Consumer Duty that will set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and require firms to put their customers’ needs first. New Consumer Duty (PS 22/9) is likely the most important regulatory intervention in the last decade, and the scale and breadth of the Consumer Duty is ambitious.

The key elements of products and services that a firm supplies to retail consumers are represented in the Consumer Duty by four ‘Outcomes’ which are intended to provided clarity for firms complying with the new Consumer Principle 12.

Group purpose

The Consumer Duty Working Group brings together experts whose objective will be to understand the impacts of the new Consumer Duty on member firms, retail consumers and the wider industry. They act as a centre of expertise in relation to how the TISA initiatives related to Consumer Duty are designed to facilitate beneficial change and share best practice with the savings, pensions and investment industry, and how it impacts upon the consumer.

The group monitors and seeks to understand any proposed changes to relevant regulation and law and the likely effects of those changes, seeking clarification where necessary from FCA to establish and develop a forum for sharing best practice, and where and when appropriate publish best practice and user guides on the TISA website.
TISA has developed a good relationship with FCA and meets on a regular basis.

Areas of focus

• Production of Best Practice Guides and formation of sub-groups to cover particular topics
• Opportunity to discuss common issues
• Updates at each meeting on other relevant initiatives
• TISA has taken a lead role in collaborative work with other industry bodies to implement a template for the sharing of data across participants within the distribution chain. In addition to working collaboratively with other industry bodies, to produce V 4.1 of European MiFid Template (EMT),TISA has produced an additional template with additional data that sits outside of the EMT, to support Consumer Duty Outcomes 3 and 4. This template is being integrated into the TURN offering to facilitate dissemination of the data across the fund industry. In addition, TISA has worked with industry groups to produce a framework for the Distributor Feedback Data, also planned for integration into TURN. Whilst there is broad agreement regarding the data points to be shared across the distribution chain, there are still significant challenges outstanding in relation to the method, especially where there are layers of distribution. TISA is leading on solving these issues, with a very productive meeting with the FCA having taken place January 24, to iron out some of the issues and timings. This also means the TURN proposition can be aligned to regulatory expectations.
• Following the release of its full set of Best Practice Guides in March 2023, TISA Working Groups are authoring Version 2 of the BPG, with the addition of additional topics, largely focussing on legacy business, and the review of existing topics post implementation.
• TISA’s Consumer Duty Conference, focusing on post implementation took place October 2023, and was very well received by attendees.
• Following the release of its full set Best Practice Guide in March 2023, TISA Working Groups are now working on Version 2 of the BPG, with the addition of additional topics largely focussing on legacy business and the review of existing topics post implementation.
• Member attendance continues to be high, with over 180 individuals now registered for the groups. TISA has responded to a large number of member queries in relation to Consumer Duty and interest in the work remains high, leading to new TISA members.

Good practice guide

Please see here

abrdn
Aegon UK PLC
Allfunds Bank S.A.U
Altus Consulting
Ashurst Risk Advisory
Aviva Plc
Aviva UK Insurance
Baillie Gifford & Co
Barclays Wealth
Baringa Partners LLP
Blackrock Investment Management (UK) Limited
BNY Mellon
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc
Burges Salmon
Canada Life
Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg S.A. (UK Branch)
Charles Stanley
CMC Markets Investments Limited
Columbia Threadneedle Fund Management Limited
Columbia Threadneedle Investments EMEA
Comentis
Crealogix
Dentons
Digital Moneybox Ltd
Equiniti
Ernst & Young
Evelyn Partners
Fidelity International
Fluro
FNZ
Forester Life
Franklin Templeton
Freetrade
Gladius Assurance
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hogan Lovells International LLP
HSBC
HSBC Bank plc
HSBC UK Bank plc
Impax
Interactive Investor
Invesco
Investec Wealth & Investment Limited
J O Hambro
Janus Henderson
JPMorgan Asset Management
JPMorgan Chase

Jupiter Asset Management
Kroll
Link Group
Liontrust Asset Management
LV=
M&G Investments
Marlborough Group
MFS International (UK) Ltd
Model Office
Morningstar Wealth (UK) Ltd
NatWest PLC
NextWealth
Northern Trust
Novia Financial Plc
OneFamily
Optima Consulting Partners Limited
Orbis Investments (U.K.) Limited
Parmenion Capital Partners LLP
Peter Bloxham
Pinsent Masons LLP
Platform One Limited
Platform Securities
Prudential
Punter Southall Wealth Limited
Quilter (formerly Old Mutual Wealth)
Quilter Cheviot Limited
Quilter PLC
RBC Brewin Dolphin
RBC Investor & Treasury Services
Rigg Wright Associates Inc Ltd
Scottish Widows Plc
Seven Investment
Simplify Consulting
SS&C
St James’s Place Wealth Management
Taylor Wessing
Tenet Group
Tesco Bank
the lang cat
Thesis Asset Management
Vanguard Asset Management Ltd
Walbrook Partners
Waystone
Willis Towers Watson
Winterflood Securities Limited
Worksmart Limited

Lisa Laybourn, Head of Technical Policy and Risk leads on this work at TISA

Publications

News