CONSUMER DUTY, VULNERABLE CUSTOMERS, AND HOW WE EMBRACE OUR CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

You’ve probably heard about the FCA’s Consumer Duty rules. In force since July 2023, they set higher and clearer standards across the financial services sector and are designed to protect you by ensuring that firms put their customers’ needs first.

While the rules are new, Future Planning have always put their customers first, ensuring that we provide you with:

• The support you need, at the point you need it 
• Jargon-free communications in plain language 
• Value for money and services aligned to your needs

Consumer Duty rules also include additional guidance on how firms should adapt to meet the needs of vulnerable clients.

The FCA has other important plans in the pipeline too, including its Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), designed to clamp down on firms overstating their sustainability credentials.

These proposals, alongside Consumer Duty, give financial firms food for thought in several areas.

At Future Planning, we always look to be one step ahead of the game and have been looking at some of the above factors for some time. Here are a few key points to consider.

Understanding and managing client vulnerability

Vulnerability comes in many forms, few of which are visible. We can all find ourselves vulnerable at different stages of our lives. 

According to the FCA, vulnerable customers are those who, “due to their personal circumstances, are especially susceptible to harm, particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care”.

A vulnerability could arise from:

• Health conditions or illnesses that affect your physical or mental wellbeing
• Life events like bereavement, divorce, or redundancy
• Resilience – or your ability to withstand financial or emotional shocks
• Capability, in terms of your financial knowledge and confidence

At Future Planning, we get to know all of our clients as individuals. This helps us to identify your individual needs and goals and create bespoke solutions for you.

Alongside this approach, Consumer Duty also requires us to factor in any potential biases you have. Again, by getting to know you, and understanding your risk profile, capacity for loss, and attitudes to money, we can ensure that you have all the information you need to make informed choices.

Our approach to financial planning aligns with Consumer Duty, and we are taking further practical steps too. From installing wheelchair ramps and moving one of our meeting rooms downstairs to using technology to help us gather and assess data to ensure the solutions we offer are right for you, we are proud to be a client-led rather than an adviser-led business.

A focus on community and a commitment to social responsibility 

Those of you who read our quarterly team updates will know how important community is to us here at Future Planning. From sponsoring local music festivals to volunteering at the RSPCA’s nearby Oak and Furrows Animal Rescue Centre. 

So far this year we have raised funds for the RSCPA, Swindon’s Prospect Hospice, and those affected by the Turkey and Syria earthquake. 

We have also made changes to become a carbon-neutral business. 

Officially climate-positive, you can work with us safe in the knowledge that our interactions won’t detrimentally affect the environment. In fact, we have teamed up with Ecologi to support renewable energy projects in developing countries worldwide.

Sustainability, and investments that consider a company’s credentials in environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are becoming increasingly important. 

Remember, if you’d like to talk to us about aligning your money with your values on sustainable issues, Future Planning can help so get in touch now.

Get in touch

At Future Planning, we look to put you first in everything that we do. You’ll also find the support you need; from the products we offer to the language we use. 

We welcome the FCA’s Consumer Duty consumer duty rules as a way to reinforce the values we stand for and the processes we already have in place.

If you have any questions about any subject raised in this article, or you’d like to talk about your long-term financial plans, please email [email protected] or call 01793 575553.

Please note:

This article is for information only. Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.