FCA warns 'top priority' Consumer Duty 'not once and done' event

Not a box-ticking exercise

The Consumer Duty remains the Financial Conduct Authority’s ‘top priority’ and adherence will be closely monitored to ensure firms do not think it is a ‘once and done’ exercise, the regulator has said.

Nisha Arora, director of cross cutting policy and strategy at the FCA, said during a speech on Wednesday (1 November) that firms need to make sure they are "learning and improving continuously" and must be able to evidence this in their annual board report. Three months since the initial 1 July deadline for implementation of the Duty, she said the FCA has seen some good practices and benefits for consumers. One such benefit is firms reviewing their fees with fair value in mind, the regulator said. The FCA stopped short of naming the most high profile example of this in St James's Plac...