The New Consumer Duty for Investment Management Firms

The Consumer Duty is in force for new and existing products from the end of July 2023. Given its broad application to business across the product distribution chain, the Duty represents a significant shift in the FCA’s expectations around the treatment of consumers by all financial services firms, not just those with direct retail customers.

Compliance isn’t a one-shot exercise, with the FCA now expecting ongoing implementation work and continuous improvement over time. Investment management firms need to give careful thought to e.g. review and testing, monitoring and the feedback loop from others in the distribution chain, application to new products, and implementation for closed products. Products need to be reviewed against the four outcomes and cross-cutting rules, with compliance monitored and any issues addressed.

In this half day training session Linklaters will take members through the operation of the Consumer Duty, allowing participants to consider in detail the legal framework and issues around practical implementation within their organisations. The training will incorporate discussions and a series of case studies focusing on the following topics:

• Overview and application of the Duty
• Mapping key touchpoints within your business
• Interaction between the Duty and existing product governance rules
• Senior management accountability and internal governance
• Maintaining your momentum into BAU compliance, monitoring and reporting

Key Learning Objectives

• Enhance knowledge of the structure and key requirements of the Duty.
• Understand the key implications and obligations of the Duty for investment management firms.
• Allow for detailed consideration of the new outcomes.
• Obtain insight into the interaction of the Duty with existing product governance obligations.
• Identify the impact of the Duty on how senior managers fulfil their obligations.
• Give insight into structuring successful governance and monitoring processes.

09.30 Welcome and introduction

• Overview and application of the Duty
• Background and broader regulatory context against which the Duty sits
• Structure of the Duty and key features of its application
• Likely areas of difficulty for investment management firms
• After the implementation deadline, what’s next?

10.15 Coffee break

10.25 Interaction between the Duty and existing product governance rules

• Application across the product lifecycle
• Gap analysis: the Consumer Duty vs PROD
• Monitoring and evidencing compliance

11.20 Break

11.35 Senior management accountability and internal governance

• The role of Senior Managers in implementation
• Taking and evidencing reasonable steps in the context of the Duty
• Establishing an effective governance framework
• Maximising the use of management information and its role in improving consumer outcomes

12.20 Questions and discussion

12.30 Close and networking lunch

• Legal
• Risk
• Regulatory affairs/Regulatory change
• Compliance
• Product development/design
• Marketing/Sales/Distribution/
• Investment Management
• Customer Support and Reporting
• Complaint’s handling
• Distributor Relationship Management
• Senior managers

Sara Cody 

Sara is a Knowledge Counsel in Linklaters Financial Regulation team specialising in UK contentious regulatory work. She has experience of all aspects of regulatory enforcement work and has written extensively on both FCA/PRA enforcement decisions and UK, EU and global enforcement trends.
Sara leads the development of Linklaters’ thought leadership and horizon-spotting work in this area, focusing on publications and podcasts comparing the approach of national financial regulators across the globe to enforcement issues and relevant developments. More recently, she has also assisted several organisations responding to FCA and government consultations concerning proposed changes to regulatory policy.

Sara works closely with clients, equipping them to understand the impact of FCA/PRA investigations and enforcement action on their business and providing innovative training and other solutions to enable them to respond. She has taken a particular interest in the FCA’s development of its proposed Consumer Duty, leading on a series of Linklaters podcasts and publications analysing specific aspects of the proposals across a broad range of perspectives

 Duncan Campbell /  21 February

Duncan is a Senior Associate and Knowledge Lawyer within Linklaters’ financial services contentious regulatory practice.  He has over 15 years’ experience in large law firms in both matter-facing and knowledge roles, in disputes and financial regulation teams, and in both London and Sydney.  

His focus is the management and resolution of UK financial services regulators’ actions – both formal enforcement investigations and actions, and the regulators’ increasingly assertive and high-stakes use of their sweeping supervisory powers.

Duncan provides extensive internal training, best practice sharing and support to Linklaters’ leading contentious regulatory team so that our clients receive best-in-class service and optimal contentious regulatory outcomes.

Duncan also develops and delivers forward-looking thought leadership and expert training to clients.  He identifies trends in regulators’ areas of focus and contentious regulatory strategies and equips clients with the insights they need to prepare for and navigate intensifying regulatory scrutiny.

IA Member £395.00 +VAT
Non-Member £545.00 +VAT

Pay using a credit card online, or if you wish to be invoiced please email your full details to: Training@theia.org

PLEASE NOTE: Full payment for the course must be made prior to the course commencement date.

• Any cancellation must be made in writing.
• For all cancellation received 15-30 days prior to the course start date, 50% of the course fee is still payable.
• No refund is given for a cancellation made 14 days or less prior to the commencement of a course.
• Transferring from one course to another is treated as a cancellation.
• You can substitute one delegate for another at no additional cost. In this instance, please give two business days’ notice.

Hybrid Training Courses:

We will continue to monitor and follow government guidance regarding coronavirus (Covid-19) to ensure the safety of our team and our members. Please be advised some training courses could change from hybrid delivery (being held in-person and virtually) to solely virtual delivery, should government guidance require.

There are a limited number of in-person spaces available on this course and this will be allocated on a first come first served basis.