The financial services industry has faced recurring issues with quality and consistency, from concerns around the information taken when on-boarding a client through to the quality of advice through to inconsistent handling of complaints. This, in turn, has resulted in increasing levels of regulatory scrutiny and a higher risk of reputational damage.

As a consequence of growing pressure from the Regulator, politicians and the media, the remediation burden for financial services has increased and will continue to do so in the medium to long term.

Strengthening compliance

In order to reduce the remediation bill in the future, firms should be looking at whether their risk management frameworks effectively mitigate risk and ensure they integrate a culture where prevention is better than the cure.

There are a number of key considerations for firms:

1. Create a culture where delivering positive consumer outcomes is as important as commercial success, with a focus on the timely identification and remediation of any failings;
2. Ensure compliance with regulatory standards is thorough and up-to-date but avoid overly complex, tenuous interpretations.
3. Focus on implementing a pragmatic approach which focuses on the regulator’s principles on such matters as;
   1. Governance,
   2. Treating Customers Fairly (TCF),
   3. AML,
4. Ensure the standards and policies across the business work together to support the firm’s ongoing compliance;
5. Design controls to address specific risks and test them regularly to ensure they continue to perform as expected against current regulation.

For more information contact Mathew Beale | Comsure mathewbeale@comsuregroup.com