The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has launched a new tool to help advisers and firms to comply with Consumer Duty regulations.
The Proficiency+ Consumer Duty competency diagnostic tool is the latest addition to the organisation’s Consumer Duty Resource Hub.
Chartered Insurance Institute capabilities and insight manager Vanessa Riboloni said the tool is “here to support the long term [aims] of the Consumer Duty”.
The PFS said: “The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty mandates high standards of conduct and behaviour towards customers, and requires firms to evidence that their people have the skills and competence conducive to good customer outcomes.
“These behaviours and expectations have been embedded within the PFS’ new Consumer Duty Proficiency+ competency diagnostic tool.”
In order to launch this product, the PFS has teamed up with Cognisco, the human resources services company who provide the tools that organisations need to measure, manage, monitor and evidence the capability of their people.
The professional map that the tool profiles for employees will “outline characteristics that lead to good customer outcomes”.
Once they have completed the Proficiency+ Consumer Duty competency diagnostic tool, individuals will receive a personalised report that will highlight areas of training needed to comply with the Consumer Duty.
Cognisco chief executive Amanda Knight said the tool offers a situational judgement test (SJT) and can offer advisers, planners and paraplanners answers about how strong they are in certain areas of the Duty – and where they may need more help.
The results of the SJT offer insights into what employees do and do not understand, and the level of confidence attributed to each of their answers.
For each work scenario, users are asked to select the most appropriate response from a set of options.
They are then asked to gauge how certain they are that their answer is correct, using a confidence scale.
Riboloni added that the tool is “not one size fits all” and is designed for everyone, for advisers to paraplanners and junior to senior professionals.
The tool is meant to embed the FCA’s behaviours it wishes to implement after the roll out of the Duty.
The pricing structure of the tool is based around how many employees from a company sign up to take the SJT.
The tool is open to everyone in the advice sector, not just members of the PFS.
The FCA has not signed off on this PFS initiative, but said it was “excited to see a tool which is developing personal behaviour”.
Riboloni said the questions asked will be kept “fresh and updated as time goes on” and will allow one business to compare its results to another.
The PFS said the three key benefits of the Proficiency+ Consumer Duty competency diagnostic tool are to: identify the areas in which training should be prioritised to create the biggest return on investment; demonstrate to the FCA that your firm is actively investing in the necessary skills to drive good customer outcomes; and measure and enhance the influence of training on employees.
PFS interim chief executive Don MacIntyre said: “We are delighted to share the PFS’ new Consumer Duty Proficiency+ diagnostic tool with the profession.
“We have developed the tool with practitioners and against real world scenarios to ensure that all who use it can take tangible steps towards raising industry standards, building public trust and facilitating the cultural shifts outlined in the FCA’s Consumer Duty guidelines.”
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