Alphera Financial Services is providing training videos and materials to help prepare for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Consumer Obligations Regulations on July 31.
The documents address the obligations attached to the relevant parts of the financial products available from Alphera, including terms and conditions, target markets, fixed payments and interest for PCP products.
The company said dealers using the tips will be in a better position to ensure they are providing fair value and transparency.
Along with the specific elements of the guidance, Alphera has set out a series of key recommendations for automotive retailers to meet the FCA’s “Culture and Governance” requirements, including:
- Appoint an internal Consumer Duty champion to oversee implementation and compliance.
- Introduce tiered staff training so everyone understands their specific role in delivering Consumer Duty.
- Ensure compensation and incentive structures promote good behavior among staff and deliver good results for clients.
- Determine what changes are needed to monitor relevant activities, including what additional evidence might be needed to prove compliance.
- Review policies and procedures to make sure they work for customers.
- Consider any other ways the culture and governance need to change to support the delivery of good customer outcomes.
Alphera has also appointed its own consumer duty champion, runs a regular consumer duty steering group to monitor progress, and provides regular updates and escalations to its board regarding requirements and best practices. consumer duty.
Another key objective of Consumer Duty is the treatment of vulnerable customers.
Alperha already has advisers dedicated to vulnerable customers within its collections department. These employees ensure a full-time focus on clients identified as vulnerable.
The company is also emphasizing mandatory annual training for all staff, educating them on how to identify and manage vulnerable customers, and has developed a UK company policy to directly address this issue.
The FCA launched a first consultation on the consumer obligation in May 2021, and tough new protection standards for financial services have now been set, requiring dealers and financial firms to act in good faith towards customers.
Alex Royall, Director of Alphera Financial Services, said: “We want to ensure that we and our partners are more than ready for the implementation of Consumer Duty.
“We are committed to being one step ahead, providing detailed guidance documents and videos covering individual topics and outlining the steps needed to ensure compliance.
“Ahead of the deadline, we have asked for detailed feedback from partners to further improve the information we provide.
