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What is TCF?
Treating Customers Fairly is about creating an open, transparent, fair and honest environment for customers in relation to financial services and products. It means providing only those products and/or services that are relevant and suitable for the customer, taking the time to establish what is required and what is not, ensuring that customers understand what we are providing and how it will benefit them.
Providing a product or service that meets the expectations of the customer and does what we have advised it will do and removing any post-sale barriers to enable the customer to cancel a service or raise a complaint without encountering any obstacles
The 6 TCF Outcomes, as laid out below, cover what firms are required to do to ensure TCF is covered and these outcomes can be altered to suit the business type of each financial sector.
The main aims of TCF are to increase consumer confidence in the financial markets and companies and to receive fair, clear and relevant products and services that are suitable and fit for purpose.
The FCA have advised that they “expect customers’ interests to be at the heart of how firms do business. Customers can expect to get financial services and products that meet their needs from firms that they can trust. Meeting customers’ fair and reasonable expectations should be the responsibility of firms, not that of the regulator.”
16.1.2 Expectations of Firms
The FCA have advised that they “expect customers’ interests to be at the heart of how firms do business. Customers can expect to get financial services and products that meet their needs from firms that they can trust. Meeting customers’ fair and reasonable expectations should be the responsibility of firms, not that of the regulator.”
As part of the FCA’s TCF initiative, they expect firms to demonstrate that: –
- They are integrating TCF into their business culture
- They have the appropriate MI or measures in place to test whether they are treating their customers fairly including by delivering the six TCF consumer outcomes
- The MI demonstrates to them and to the FCA that they are consistently treating customers fairly and delivering the consumer outcomes
- There are processes in place that monitor the MI to enable the right people to act
16.1.3 Six TCF Outcomes
The six TCF outcomes detail what the FCA are trying to achieve for consumers. They are used for guiding regulatory decisions and actions and remain at the core of what the FCA expects of firms.
Outcome 1: Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.
Outcome 2: Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.
Outcome 3: Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.
Outcome 4: Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.
Outcome 5: Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.
Outcome 6: Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.