Consumer Duty

Important information

The Consumer Duty sets the standard of care that firms should give to customers in retail financial markets and came into effect on 31 July 2023. The Consumer Duty has set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and requires firms to 'act to deliver goodoutcomes for retail customers'.

At Fidentia Insurance Brokers Limited, we are strongly supportive of any initiative designed to improve outcomes for our customers. Our customers are central to our business and we believe that they should receive communications they can understand, products and services that meet their needs and offer fair value, and they get the support and help they need, when they need it.

How firms act to deliver the Consumer Duty

There are three cross-cutting rules set out around how firms should act to deliver good outcomes for their customers. These are:

• Acting in good faith
• Avoid causing foreseeable harm
• Enable and support customers to pursue their financial objectives

What are the new Consumer Duty outcomes

There are four outcomes which cover the key elements of the firm-customer relationship:

• Products and services outcome;
• Price and value outcome;
• Consumer understanding outcome; and
• Consumer support outcome.

Customers in vulnerable circumstances

We understand that some of our customers may be in vulnerable circumstances. To support these customers, we have created a Vulnerable Customer Policy which outlines how we are supporting customers in a variety of vulnerable situations. We also provide additional training to our people around identifying and supporting customers in a variety of vulnerable situations.

Clear communications

We understand that it is important for our customers to be able to understand our communications. To meet this need we have drafted a series of Fidentia Communication Principles for our customer communications. These principles focus on supporting consumer understanding by:

• Ensuring that our communications meet the information needs of the reader
• Ensuring communications are clear, fair and not misleading
• Tailoring communications to take account of the characteristics of the customer (including vulnerability)
• Ensuring that information is accurate, relevant and provided on a timely basis
• Checking and testing communications for customer understanding

We are commited to meeting the requirements of the Consumer Duty and to providing our customers with the best possible service. If you have any questions about the Consumer Duty or our approach to customer protection, please do not hesitate to contact us.