Consumer Duty

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its policy and final guidance for the new Consumer Duty regulation in July 2022. More information about the new Consumer Duty regulations is available from the FCA. We support the Consumer Duty and its principle of acting to deliver good outcomes for customers and take the requirements seriously.

Q Underwriting is committed to working closely with you, our broker partners, to provide products and services that meet the needs of your customers. “Doing the right thing” has been at the heart of everything we do at PIB Group, it describes our moral compass that always points us to do the right thing by the client first. 

We are sure that you have been working to ensure you are compliant with the Consumer Duty, but we felt it was important to keep you updated on our progress and what this means.

 

What is the Consumer Duty

The Consumer Duty requires that businesses take action to deliver ‘good outcomes for customers’ throughout the customer journey by understanding their needs, financial objectives and characteristics, including any vulnerabilities. This applies across the customer journey and specifically for the following four outcomes identified by the FCA:

1. products and services
2. price and value
3. consumer understanding
4. consumer support

Firms must also satisfy the ‘cross-cutting rules’ which require them to: act in good faith to deliver good outcomes, help customers to achieve their financial goals and to act to avoid ‘foreseeable harm’ to customers. All firms will also need to show evidence that they are delivering good outcomes for customers in these areas.

Q Underwriting has dedicated resources to ensure its readiness for Consumer Duty and has already made good progress in the four outcomes highlighted by the FCA.

How we are meeting the 4 Consumer Duty Outcomes

Outcomes 1 & 2

Q Underwriting has agreed Distributor only status for most products available.

We’ve already implemented our product governance process in line with PROD 4, and therefore are satisfied that outcomes 1 (Products and Services) and 2 (Price and Value) are being met. Each product will be subject to review on at least an annual basis. Should we and/or the Manufacturer identify any required alterations or enhancements, these will be communicated to you in the normal course of business. To access the Fair Value and Target Market statements, please refer to our Product Governance page.

Outcomes 3 & 4

We’re continuing to liaise with our Insurer partners and review our own processes and communications against outcomes 3 (Consumer Understanding) and 4 (Consumer Support) to deliver good customer outcomes and we’re prioritising any changes to customer communications as part of an ongoing programme of work. If any findings have relevance for your business, we’ll make you aware.

Working Together

We believe that we can achieve a more seamless and superior customer experience by working in tandem to deliver the required good outcomes for all our customers.

We will continue to keep this page updated on any changes which are relevant to you. If we require any information from you, we will be sure to let you know through the normal channels. If, through your own reviews, you identify any matters you want to discuss with us, please get in touch at prod@qunderwriting.com.