Phoenix Group has responded to the new rules
from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FCA's Consumer Duty sets higher and clearer standards of regulation and
consumer protection across financial services. It is effective from:
- 31 July 2023 for new and existing products or services that are open to sale or renewal.
- 31 July 2024 for closed products or services.
Fully committed to Consumer Duty
Our Phoenix Group brands are fully committed to Consumer Duty and are focused on making certain our products and services meet the required standards of the new regulatory framework.
To date we have:
- embedded new customer standards and clear definitions of what good customer outcomes mean at Phoenix
- completed reviews and Fair Value Assessments of all our open and closed products, communications, and customer journeys to identify and address areas of foreseeable harm and fair value in line with regulatory requirements and deadlines
- implemented new or improved policies, processes and frameworks across the business focused on delivering customer understanding and supporting good outcomes
- enhanced our governance, oversight, monitoring, reporting and evidence for customer outcomes to meet requirements of Consumer Duty
- delivered regular group-wide communications and training to embed Consumer Duty into everything we do.
Building on our commitment to good customer outcomes
At Phoenix we want to help people secure a life of possibilities. Consumer Duty builds on our commitment to ensure we achieve consistently good outcomes for our customers today, tomorrow, and beyond.
The new rules mean we must:
- consider the needs, objectives, characteristics (including vulnerabilities) and behaviour of our customers at every stage of the customer journey
- act to deliver good customer outcomes
- understand and evidence whether good outcomes are being met.
There are three main elements to the duty:
- Consumer Principle: act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
- Cross-cutting rules:
- act in good faith,
- avoiding foreseeable harm for retail customers, and
- enable and support retail customers pursue their financial objectives.
- Four outcomes:
- products and services,
- price and value,
- consumer understanding, and
- consumer support
Together the rules and elements of the Duty gives us a clear framework and greater focus to deliver good outcomes for our customers and keep their needs at the heart of everything we do.