Too early to quantify impact of FCA’s proposed Consumer Duty

The FCA Practitioner Panel has today published a report by Frontier Economics assessing the economic impacts of the FCAs proposed Consumer Duty, supporting and accompanying the Panel’s response to the FCA consultation.

The Practitioner Panel is made up by senior practitioners within the largest firms in the industry, with members appointed by the FCA Board, and advises the FCA on policy development and operational matters.

Concerns over implementation of the Consumer Duty

The FCA believes the proposed Consumer Duty will increase the expectations placed on firms, and will direct regulatory attention more directly towards customer outcomes. Our report is based on our analysis of the proposals, and the result of consultation with Panel members, the FCA, and a wide range of other practitioners across the industry. We find there is broad support and consensus around the FCA’s overall intent but a range of concerns have been raised by the industry regarding how the Consumer Duty will be implemented.

Costs, benefits and risks

Our report describes the potential costs, benefits and risks of the proposals, and the Panel’s views on where the impacts are likely to be greatest. Given the current uncertainties, we conclude it is not yet possible to robustly quantify these impacts, or to be confident the overall net impact of introducing the new Consumer Duty will be positive. We also describe a range of issues we believe it would be helpful for the FCA to address in the next phase of its consultation on the Consumer Duty, to follow later in the year.

Click the link below to download our report in full. Read more about the Consumer Duty on the FCA’s site here.

Frontier regularly advises on issues relating to financial services in the UK and Europe.

For more information please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000

Economic impact of the FCA's consumer duty