Abby Thomas speaks at FCA event: The Consumer Duty – one year on

The financial services regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, held the event today to mark one year since the Consumer Dutycame into force for new and existing products. From today, the Duty also applies to closed products and services.  

Speaking today at the FCA’s Consumer Duty: 1 Year On event, Abby Thomas, Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive at the Financial Ombudsman Service said:

The Consumer Duty has meant firms need to focus even more on the outcomes that customers receive.

Over the last year, we’ve continued to take action where we think businesses haven’t treated customers fairly, and in line with the requirements under the Duty.

I urge firms to ask themselves whether they’re supporting their customers in the way they’d expect to be supported in the circumstances. We want to help firms resolve complaints fairly first time, without the need for a case to come to us, which is why we share insight for businesses to identify ways to improve their systems or processes. This should reduce more complaints further down the line.

The Consumer Duty came into force at a time of significant change for the Financial Ombudsman Service. I’m really proud that we’ve reduced the median time it takes to resolve a case, from 4.8 months in 2022/23 to around three months in 2023/24.

It is free for consumers to bring a complaint directly to our independent and simple to use service.”