Small but still Fair
Following on from the post about the FSA saying to treat customers fairly (TCF), the FSA has now updated its website with a new section targeted at small businesses.
Recognising the fact that there tends to be a lack of resources in small businesses, the FSA says that rather than having formalised documents etc. small firms should take a step back and look at its operations, identify areas of risk to its customers, and consider how to remove or mitigate them.
Although not updated since last year, the new section of the website contains a PDF document which outlines the FSA’s ideas on TCF for small firms.
The subjects covered include financial promotions, advice and sales process, training, accurate and timely record keeping, disputes and complaint handling, flow of information and risk assessment.
In the next few months the FSA will be conducting a telephone survey to 900 small businesses about TCF and at some stage next year will be visiting a sample of the firms who answered the survey questions. In April 2007 the FSA will publish a review on the number of companies who have or haven’t met the March deadline for implementing a TCF policy.
