Firms which make suggestions via ‘targeted support’ could be liable for complaints with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if they know the suggestions are unsuitable, the FCA and the FOS have confirmed.
In a joint statement published today, the regulator and ombudsman said: “A firm must not provide a consumer with a suggestion if there is information of which the firm is aware, or of which it ought reasonably to be aware, that indicates that the suggestion with which the consumer has been matched may be unsuitable.”
The regulator said targeted support will be considered a one-off service that does not involve ongoing suitability assessments, it added. Suitability also does not need to be assessed at the individual consumer level when providing targeted support.
Instead, it said that it envisages the targeted support framework will be firms designing suitable ready-made suggestions for consumers “in particular situations and, where relevant, with particular characteristics”.
It confirmed the full final rules today.
