THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

The Consumer Duty deadline day has been and gone , but what next and what will the post Consumer Duty landscape look like ?

Gillian Hepburn Head of UK Intermediary Solutions Schroders

There will be similar lessons to learn to those that came from ‘ Assessments of Value ’ The asset management industry started to produce Assessments of Value ( AoV ) four years ago . Initial feedback was ‘ you ’ re too green ’ – not a measure of sustainability but an accusation that all funds were deemed to be delivering value which inherently didn ’ t feel right . Since then AoV has evolved to better reflect their intended purpose and we have seen funds closing and merging , and charges being reduced . A quick scan of the Fair Value Assessments from the MPS world indicates that perhaps a similar pattern has emerged . I ’ m a believer that we can always do better , so perhaps seeing some more amber in these reports would be good , demonstrating that due care , honesty and attention is being paid to the assessment process and , importantly , changes will be made . I would also predict that further guidance on good practice for documentation will be issued , but seeking and sharing best practice is important .

Adviser businesses will be impacted Thirty-nine percent of advisers in the May 2023 Schroders Adviser Survey indicated that Consumer Duty would have little or no impact on their business . It will be interesting to test this again in our next survey , but I was surprised at the results . In our own business , we have deployed not insignificant resources to meet the requirement to produce value assessments on an ongoing basis , test consumer understanding and update documentation . In addition , advisers should be asking clients about value for money to provide evidence that they are meeting this requirement . Surely this activity must have some impact on an advisory business and perhaps drive some change ?

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