Treating Customers Fairly Policy
"Our single most important principle throughout the history of Allenbridge has been to treat customers considerately, as we would wish to be treated ourselves by any efficient, professional business," Anthony H. Yadgaroff, Group Managing Director, Allenbridge
Our success as a company depends on "word of mouth" referrals, and we naturally value highly our reputation as a firm that seeks to deal with customers in a fair and efficient way, that minimises customer complaints, and, on the rare occasions when they occur, bends over backwards to achieve a result that satisfies our customer. After all, we don’t want to lose them, and we want them to recommend us to their friends and family.
So Allenbridge Group are fully committed to the FSA’s principles of Treating Customers Fairly; we try always to act in an open and transparent way in the best interests of our clients.
- What is TCF?
- What the FSA is trying to achieve (the six outcomes)
- What the FSA expects
- Who is the customer?
- The TCF assessment
- Summary
What is TCF?
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an independent non-governmental body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK. The FSA is accountable to Treasury Ministers, and through them, to Parliament.
One of the FSA's 11 Principles for business requires that:
“A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly."
In 2001 the FSA launched their Treating Customers Fairly initiative to help restore customer confidence in the financial services industry and to create a fairer and more effective financial services industry.
This continued in 2006, with the publication of a set of six "outcomes" to help firms understand what TCF means in practice - "Treating Customers Fairly - Building on Progress".
The FSA wants firms to decide how they will treat their customers fairly and expect TCF to be built into firms' strategy, culture and operations.
What the FSA is trying to achieve (the six outcomes):
The objective is to create a fairer and more effective financial services industry. If the outcomes are being achieved then, from the perspective of the FSA, customers are being treated fairly.
Outcome 1
Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture
Outcome 2
Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly
Outcome 3
Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale
Outcome 4
Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances
Outcome 5
Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect
Outcome 6
Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint
What the FSA expects:
Most firms in the financial services industry already aim to treat their customers fairly. However, the FSA wants to take this further and challenge firms and their ways of doing business against TCF principles. The FSA expects all distributor and provider firms to “embed" TCF effectively into their values, and the way they conduct business.
This includes:
- Understanding how TCF applies to the firm's business and its target customers
- Embedding TCF into the firm's strategy and culture
- Ensuring that TCF has been delivered at every level of the firm
- Reviewing the firm's performance against its TCF obligations, and addressing any shortfalls.
- In specific terms, firms are expected to take account of the following aspects:
- The design and governance of the product
- Identifying the right target market for the product
- The marketing and promotion of the product
- The sales and advice processes
- The provision of post-sale information to the customer and the complaints process
Who is the customer?
TCF defines the customer as the end consumer - the person who buys or uses a product from a distributor or provider. As such, every distributor and provider company is responsible for making sure that their customer is being treated fairly throughout the lifetime of the product.
The TCF assessment
The FSA is expected to carry out assessments of distributor or provider firms to establish whether they are complying with the principles of TCF.
Summary
Allenbridge Group is fully committed to the principles of TCF.
- We are ensuring that TCF is an integral part of all aspects of our business, so that the whole product and advice process is fair and clear at all times to our customers throughout the life of their relationship with us.
- We will provide our clients with accurate and clear information, and keep them appropriately informed before, during and after a purchase or transaction
- We will ensure that there are no surprises – clients will be provided with a product or service of the standard that the customer has been led to expect that performs as our firm has led them to expect
- We will ensure that we will put things right, if we get them wrong
- We promise to deal with our clients in an open, fair and respectful manner with clear, precise, relevant and timely documentation
We underpin these business principles within our Treating Customers Fairly policy which requires amongst other things, that we:
- Provide continuous training to ensure that our staff have the right skills and knowledge to do their jobs effectively
- Engage in active consultation with our clients so that we fully understand their needs and requirements
- Provide an objective assessment of suitability when making a recommendation
- Communicate in an open, fair and respectful manner with clear, precise, relevant and timely supporting documentation
- Constantly measure and review the performance and effectiveness of our TCF policy relative to the requirements of the FSA, by thorough analysis of our management information and internal processes
We are ensuring that TCF is “embedded" into all aspects of our business to ensure that the whole product and advice process is fair and clear at all times to our customers throughout the lifetime of their investments.
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