What happened?
The FCA’s long-awaited Consumer Duty is set to enforce a whole new standard of customer care. With less than a year until the implementation deadline, firms are urged to act proactively to ensure a smooth transition and avoid compliance failures.
Writing in Money Marketing, TCC Associate Director Juana Diaz-Landinez outlines the top four questions that firms should address immediately to structure their transition programmes and prepare for the new regulatory regime.
Why does it matter?
The Consumer Duty represents a fundamental cultural and operational shift, moving the regulatory focus from tick-box compliance to objective customer outcomes. Firms that delay their readiness reviews risk severe regulatory action, including fines and product restrictions once the Duty comes into force.
Supporting sources
Frequently asked questions
Why is early preparation for the Consumer Duty essential?
Early action ensures firms can thoroughly review and reform their product governance, customer support, and value assessments without missing the FCA’s strict statutory deadline.
What is the key shift introduced by the Consumer Duty?
The Consumer Duty shifts the regulatory focus from procedural compliance to evidencing and delivering consistently good outcomes for consumers throughout their product lifecycle.
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- BankingTCC helps retail banks, challenger banks, building societies and specialist banking providers strengthen governance, manage financial crime risk and demonstrate good customer outcomes. Our specialists support Consumer Duty, remediation, regulatory transformation, FCA intervention and compliance assurance programmes through advisory, managed services, specialist resourcing and technology-enabled compliance. With more than 25 years of experience supporting FCA-regulated firms, we help banks respond confidently to regulatory scrutiny while strengthening operational resilience and customer trust.
- General Insurance & ProtectionTCC helps insurers, brokers, MGAs and protection providers evidence fair value, strengthen customer outcomes and identify emerging customer harm. We assess product governance, claims performance, distribution oversight and vulnerability risks, helping firms create regulator-ready evidence, improve operational performance and demonstrate that products and services deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle.
- Lending & Consumer CreditTCC helps consumer credit firms evidence good outcomes, strengthen affordability and vulnerability frameworks, and manage complaints, remediation and regulatory risk. We support lenders with practical, regulator-ready compliance programmes that improve governance, customer treatment and operational resilience.
- Wealth Management & Financial AdviceTCC helps wealth managers, financial advisers, networks, platforms and consolidators strengthen compliance, evidence customer outcomes and manage regulatory risk. Every engagement is designed to deliver practical improvements, stronger governance and regulator-ready evidence. For more than 25 years, we have helped FCA-regulated firms navigate regulatory change, supervisory reviews and business growth.