Consumer duty: How will it impact content in the financial services industry?
It’s the Duty that everyone is talking about! The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed plans to introduce a Consumer Duty that aims to better protect customers within the financial services.
So in summary, what is Consumer Duty?
Ultimately, the Consumer Duty should help to improve outcomes for consumers, these have been split into four outcomes:
- The governance of products and services
- Price and value
- Consumer understanding
- Consumer support.
The four outcomes will ensure that consumers get clear, understandable communication,
products and services that meet their needs at a fair value, and helpful customer support when required. The Consumer Duty is set to shake up the financial services industry and will affect regulated financial firms and consumers, along with regulated bodies and industry experts.
You can read the published final guidance here.
Consumer Duty deadlines
The first deadline is [fast] approaching, here are the dates for your diary…
31st July 2023
The Consumer Duty will apply to new and existing products or services that are open to sale or renewal by this date.
31st July 2024
The Consumer Duty will apply to closed products or services by this date.
What are the potential benefits of the Consumer Duty?
The Duty has the potential to benefit customers and financial organisations [win-win]! The benefits include:
Customer trust
Customers will trust and understand that the services you offer are focused on their best interests, with communications that are easy to understand.
Industry-wide consistency
The Consumer Duty will encourage standardisation and consistency within the financial services industry, customers will be able to expect a certain level of care and support.
Customers will trust and understand that the services you offer are focused on their best interests, with communications that are easy to understand.
Positive brand reputation
Stronger customer protection = stronger brand reputation, did someone say increased customer loyalty?
Your Consumer Duty implementation plan
Here are five top tips for implementing the new Consumer Duty into your content:
1. Audit your content
Is anything missing? Is the content free of jargon? Is the information you provide the best it can be?
2. Listen to your current customer?
If you’re seeing trends in complaints, or comments on social media, see how you can remedy their issues and implement this going forwards.
3. Simplify your communications
Make sure everything is written in plain English - is it easy to understand?
4. Understand each customer journey
By fully mapping out the journey your customers take, you’ll be able to ensure the content they receive is informative and understandable.
5. Think customer-first
Fully focus on their requirements before bolstering this with compliance rules and regulations.
A Q&A with Olivia
We sat with Olivia, our Creative Content Manager as she answered some of the frequently asked questions about the Consumer Duty…
How does the Consumer Duty affect how financial service institutions communicate with customers?
The Consumer Duty will affect all customer communications within the financial services industry. The emphasis on writing in plain English and making sure customers are as informed as possible will be a positive change within the industry.
How will Ketchup work with financial businesses to ensure they adhere to consumer duty for communication?
At Ketchup, we’ll continue to adhere to all regulations when writing for clients within the financial services industry, whilst advising and offering solutions for existing content and communications.
Should financial institutions have a Consumer Duty champion?
Yes! It’s so important that organisations have a “champion” or “champions” who are able to review content, products and services to ensure they align with the Consumer Duty.
Do financial institutions need to work with agencies that understand the Consumer Duty?
It’s extremely beneficial to get external eyes on your content to ensure you’re following all of the guidelines whilst staying true to your brand’s tone of voice. When working with external agencies, it’s important that they’re experts in the financial services industry and confident in all regulations.
Fully focus on their requirements before bolstering this with compliance rules and regulations.
The Consumer Duty clock is ticking, are you ready?
As you know, organisations are required to meet the first Consumer Duty deadline by the 31st July 2023. If you’re struggling to meet this, or would simply like some support, the crafty copywriting team at Ketchup can help you with updating collateral and producing content and literature for new products and services.
Ready to call on Ketchup? Get in touch today.