As businesses continue to embed Consumer Duty into their working days and work to achieve positive outcomes for their customers, we’re asking people from across Parmenion how they think Consumer Duty is changing the financial services sector. Viv Lockett, Client Administration Manager is the latest person to answer our quick-fire questions.
Over to you, Viv…
1. What team do you work in?
I work as a Client Administration Manager in the Operations Department so I hear a lot of feedback from our clients about the service we offer and use it to make improvements where we can.
2. How are you applying the new regulation to your work?
It’s important to us that the client is at the centre of our decision-making processes, so in preparation for Consumer Duty, we took a step back and looked at all our processes through a ‘client impact’ lens. We wanted to make sure we’d considered the effect on our clients through every process that we complete.
This was a really valuable exercise and helped us to understand the customer journey and where changes are most likely to affect them. The results are helping to shape our approach moving forward.
3. How has Consumer Duty changed your approach to working in Operations?
Our clients have always been important to what we do in Operations, but we need to make sure we consider and evidence that we are doing the best that we can for our clients. That means putting their needs at the forefront when making any procedural changes and feeling confident challenging if we think this isn’t the case.
4. How do you think Consumer Duty will help advisers or customers?
I think Consumer Duty will give Clients and Advisers confidence in our services – they’ll know they are always at the heart of what we do. That’s the goal of the new regulation but it’s always been critical to us.
5. What does Consumer Duty mean to you?
For me, Consumer Duty is all about making sure that we, as an investment platform, commit to putting the client at the centre of the service we provide and striving for the best outcomes for our clients.
This article is for financial professionals only. Any information contained within is of a general nature and should not be construed as a form of personal recommendation or financial advice. Nor is the information to be considered an offer or solicitation to deal in any financial instrument or to engage in any investment service or activity.
Parmenion accepts no duty of care or liability for loss arising from any person acting, or refraining from acting, as a result of any information contained within this article. All investment carries risk. The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and investors may get back less than they put in. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.