The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Consumer Duty changes came into effect on 31 July last year for open book, on-sale products and services. The deadline for closed book products and services is at the end of this month.
A survey from Smart Money People revealed that despite it being a year since the rules were introduced to reduce consumer harm and improve good outcomes, 7% of its 2,000 respondents said service levels had worsened.
A desire for human interaction
Smart Money People’s poll found that consumers were most frustrated by the lack of access to human support, as cited by 48% of respondents. Some 34% said untrained staff was a problem, while 32% named the lack of an available phone number.
A further 24% complained about financial services providers’ over-reliance on chatbots.
Although consumers were not happy with the service they received, just 23% had left a review for their provider in the last year and only 35% had given direct feedback in the last five years.
Smart Money People said the negative experiences of consumers were therefore not being recorded.
Vulnerable customers see no Consumer Duty improvement
A proportion of the study’s 2,000 respondents self-reported on criteria that would deem them as vulnerable, according to the regulator’s definition. Smart Money People found that, among this cohort of consumers, 81% had seen no positive improvement in the way they had been treated by financial services companies in the last year.
Jacqueline Dewey (pictured), CEO of Smart Money People, said: “The Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty guidelines are specifically designed to put the onus of consumer communications and outcomes on the provider. However, our data shows customers are not seeing the impact of these guidelines 12 months later.
“It’s particularly concerning that vulnerable customers have not seen an improvement in their experience during this time. This is why we are encouraging consumers to feed back on both good and bad experiences.”
She added: “Smart Money People works with financial services organisations to better understand and serve their customers, helping to drive better outcomes for both providers and their customers.”
