FCA Compliance

Firms are required by regulation to ensure employees maintain adequate knowledge of eight core competencies (as set out in SYSC 28.2.2R:as transposed from the IDD), the Individual Conduct Rules, and how these apply to their role. Annual CPD requirements are designed to support and demonstrate this knowledge and assess an employee’s competency in their role.  

The FCA have released a statement warning motor finance companies to ensure they reserve money for potential pay-outs, as it continues its probe into discretionary commission arrangements (DCA).

The FCA has published the findings from its latest Financial Lives cost of living re-contact survey.

Comparisons in the cost of car insurance show stark rises in the UK compared with significantly lower increases for cover across the rest of Europe.

The FOS now expects a caseload of 210,000 complaints in 2024/25- a 15% rise from its previous prediction of 181,300 and 27% more than it recorded in 2022/23.

Several new employment laws come into force from April 2024. Firms should be aware of any changes to their obligations to employees and ensure that policies and processes are revised to avoid falling foul of the new rules. 

The Worker Protection Act 2023, (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) received Royal Assent on the 26th October and will come into force on the 27 October 2024.

An FCA review has found evidence to suggest some firms are offering customers less than the market value of their written-off or stolen vehicles - in some cases, providing lower offers and increasing them only when a customer negotiates or complains.

The FCA has set out a programme of work for the final year of its 3-year strategy.  The planned programme of work builds on progress made over recent years to become a “more outcomes-based, assertive and data-led regulator”.