FSA Says Treat Customers Fairly
I find it interesting that the Financial Services Authority has produced a discussion document on treating customers fairly and, after a quick web trawl, find it surprising this has hardly raised an eyebrow with the National Press.
Although the FSA Chief Executive says “we are not placing new regulatory responsibilities on either providers or distributors” the subject matter covered in the document could give clues of future action by the regulator.
The FSA uses the document to encourage
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Providers to design their products with greater care
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To monitor distribution channels more effectively
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to undertake better post-sale analysis of the performance of products.
To me this alludes to apportion of blame. If a downstream ‘customer facing sales person’ sells a product on information received through potentially multiple levels in the supply chain, then ultimate responsibility for accurate information is the responsibility of the upstream end provider.
The discussion about post-sales analysis is also interesting. Of course, in an ideal world, this should always have been done in the past and would avoid the accusations and charges of mis-selling years after products were sold.
