By Matti Pekkola, Principal Consultant
FCA-regulated firms must keep up their efforts on Consumer Duty, now that the rules are fully in force.
A little over a year ago, after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its final rules for the new Consumer Duty, many regulated firms were rushing to complete their Consumer Duty implementation plans for approval by their governing bodies ahead of the FCA’s deadline.
The new Consumer Duty set higher and clearer standards for consumer protection in the UK financial services sector. Given the very short timelines to fully apply the Duty rules to firms’ systems and controls infrastructure – paired with the fact it came immediately after other big regulatory changes such as the UK’s Investment Firm Prudential Regime (IFPR) – it’s no surprise that implementation has proved to be a complex challenge.
The Duty has now been in force since the end of July 2023, but much implementation and remedial work is still ongoing. In a new article published by the ICA, I discuss some key trends and next steps that we at IQ-EQ have identified through our experience over the past year working with many different FCA-regulated businesses on Consumer Duty compliance:
