Two thirds of Brits doubt transparency of financial services firms
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of UK adults do not believe that financial services firms are honest and transparent in the way that they treat them, just days ahead of the introduction of the new Consumer Duty.
According to the latest Financial Lives survey from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), confidence in financial firms remains low among consumers, with less than half of Brits saying that they had confidence in the UK financial services industry.
Furthermore, 7.4 million people said that they unsuccessfully attempted to contact one or more of their financial services providers in the 12 months before May 2022, with the most vulnerable in society most likely to struggle with this.
“Times like this show why it’s important people get the support they need as more people are likely turning to their financial services providers for help,” said Sheldon Mills (pictured), executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA.
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“Our Consumer Duty will guide our ongoing work to improve the way firms provide customer support – getting through to your provider is the starting point for receiving help, so we will be working with them to improve in this area.”
The Consumer Duty comes into force on 31 July, and requires all financial services firms to act in the best interest of their customers in order to help to improve trust and confidence in the financial services sector.
Under the terms of the duty, firms will have to offer responsive customer service, enable their customers to make good decisions for their money, provide products and services that meet consumers’ needs and work as expected, and explain and justify their pricing decisions.
Last month it was revealed that two-thirds of UK lenders are yet to fully review the duty; while the chief executive of UK Finance said that he has “real concerns” about the impact that the new duty will have on business lending.
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