Mortgage, protection and compliance services firm Paradigm has launched a consumer duty support hub to help prepare advice firms for FCA rule changes.
The hub is available to all advisory firms, not just Paradigm members, and contains a video series from Paradigm’s team of practitioners.
The new consumer duty rules which have been proposed by the FCA as a means of ensuring a higher level of consumer protection in retail financial markets, will place higher expectations on the standard of care firms provide to consumers and will need to be implemented by April 2023.
Paradigm’s director of mortgages, Richard Howes said firms only have a very short window to achieve compliance in this area and that Paradigm wants to help give firms a head start on what the FCA has described as “a significant shift in culture and behaviour”.
“Our new consumer duty support hub includes our brand new video focused on mortgage and protection firms specifically, and goes into the finer detail about what firms will need to do in order to comply. I would strongly encourage any firms that have not yet taken steps to prepare for the consumer duty to take just half an hour to watch this and start to consider the information conveyed,” Howes said.
He added that the hub will continue to be updated as more detail becomes available on the expectations and responsibilities that firms will have to meet.
The latest video on the hub is targeted at mortgage and protection firms, and discusses what preparations firms should consider in order to be ready for the rule changes.
The 30 minute video which can be used as unstructured CPD, is presented by Howes and has insights from Paradigm’s mortgages technical director, Christine Newell, and director of protection, Mike Allison.
Firm specific support and guidance is also available from Paradigm’s team of relationship managers.
Earlier this month (June 2022), SimplyBiz also launched an online consumer duty hub for its member firms.
Prior to this, the industry called for certainty and more time to implement the consumer duty, calling the proposed time frame of nine months insufficient.
Paradigm has said a series of face-to-face CPD events focusing on consumer duty will also be held in the autumn, with further details announced in the coming weeks.
jane.matthews@ft.com
