Financial advice veteran Keith Richards has teamed up with several key industry stalwarts to create the Consumer Duty Alliance (CDA).
The organisation is an independent, not-for-profit community interest company aiming to help the financial planning sector successfully implement the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s Consumer Duty.
Incorporating the Financial Vulnerability Taskforce, the CDA works with practitioners and subject matter experts to help financial planners and firms understand, meet and deliver the FCA’s Consumer Duty requirements.
Membership is complimentary and open to individuals and firms who will be required to adopt an independent Code of Professional Standards, as well as the consumer facing Financial Vulnerability Charter.
The CDA concept was inspired following a Financial Vulnerability Taskforce (FVT) member survey last year calling for more broader support in relation to Consumer Duty. The CDA aims to provide a focal point for good practice and support as well as an independent voice for the personal finance sector.
Board
The board of the CDA are all volunteers on a pro-bono basis with former Personal Finance Society chief executive Keith Richards, appointed as chief executive of the Alliance. He will also remain chair of the FVT.
Nick Cann, former chief executive of the Institute of Financial Planning, will chair the CDA’s financial planning forum, which will play a role in creating good practice content, guidance and links in a pre- and post-FCA Consumer Duty landscape.
Financial Technology Research Centre chief executive Ian Mckenna will chair the Alliance’s technology forum looking to offer focus and understanding of the increasing importance and use of fintech across the sector.
Additional directors are being recruited to “ensure diversity, representation and inclusion”, the body said.
Aims
The CDA said it wants to perform two important roles:
- Coordinate and promote good practice – There is evidence of good Consumer Duty activity within the personal finance and insurance sectors, but mainly in silos. As an independent body the CDA can coordinate, share and promote understanding and good Consumer Duty practice for the benefit of the wider market.
- Work for the sector with regulator and other groups – The FCA has stated that the successful implementation of Consumer Duty could lead to a potentially less prescriptive and more flexible regulatory framework. An independent body is ideally placed to both engage with and influence the framework’s development. This will give CDA members greater confidence in their interpretation and application of regulator’s rules and expectations.
Richards said: “With less than five months to go before Consumer Duty comes into force, the Alliance is working with established experts to share knowledge, learning, guidance and good practice to enable members to shape their own plans and initiatives. With no competition or commercial conflicts of interest to cause a potential barrier, the CDA is encouraging all financial services organisations, advice firms and individuals to join the Alliance.”
Cann said: “The consumer duty planning forum is an exciting opportunity not just for him but the wider financial planning community. After surviving a stroke 10 years ago, and living with aphasia, it is good to be back.”
McKenna added: “I am committed to this and believe technology can transform how people live their lives, including financially. From my perspective, there are so many different and emerging technologies that I am interested to understand how advisers and brokers address the challenges of big tech and the likes of Amazon breaking into financial services. This forum will explore how we can help advisers put technological changes into practice.”
