In brief

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently reiterated that its new Consumer Duty represents a significant shift in its expectations of affected firms.  Good customer outcomes must be at the heart of firms’ business strategy and objectives.  In an article for Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, Annabel Mackay and Kimberly Everitt provide an overview of the employment law implications of the Consumer Duty and lists next steps firms should take to ensure compliance.

Key takeaways

• The FCA has been focused on the role of leadership in effecting cultural change for some time, both in whistleblowing, and diversity and inclusion.  The Consumer Duty follows the same approach, with leaders required to set the “tone from the top” and ensure that all levels of the organisation take responsibility for positive consumer outcomes.
• A Consumer Duty champion must be appointed to review and challenge its implementation and will play a key part in monitoring effectiveness and supporting other non-executives to challenge the status quo.
• Firms subject to the Senior Managers & Certification Regime must ensure senior managers are accountable for delivering good outcomes.  Statements of responsibility will need to be updated.  In these firms, a new individual conduct rule will require staff to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers and employers will need to provide staff training on this.
• Performance management and remuneration policies and procedures should take account of the Consumer Duty and leaders should promote an environment where staff can raise concerns without fear of reprisals.

This article was previously published by Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence. 

For further information on how this affects your business, please get in touch with your usual Baker McKenzie contact.

Click here to access the article.