Information on consumer duty readiness

Reference Case Number: FOI10291

Freedom of Information: Right to know request:

Please provide information about firms' readiness for the incoming Consumer Duty.

The FCA has previously stated it has sent a number of surveys to firms to assess their readiness.

Please provide:

copies of any and all surveys sent to to firms regarding their preparedness for the Consumer Duty.
the latest aggregated and anonymised results of these surveys as at the date this request is answered.
any and all estimates the FCA has conducted on the amount of supervisory resources required - eg staff hours - and potential volume of enforcement actions it could take based on these levels of readiness.

Where possible please segment this data by the main activity conducted by the firm eg insurance, financial advice, consumer credit etc.

FCA response:

Question 1

Between March and May 2023, we carried out a survey on firms in some of the sectors covered by the Consumer Duty, looking at their preparedness and support needs for the 31 July 2023 implementation date. A copy of the Survey questions sent to these firms is attached.

Question 2

We published the results of this survey on our website on Wednesday 28 June 2023 (see here[1]). The data is presented by all participants (all firms) and by individual portfolio (i.e. sub-sectors).

Question 3

The Consumer Duty is a priority for the FCA, and this survey was designed to be a snapshot of firms’ readiness three months ahead of the implementation deadline. The survey is not representative of all of the firms in the scope of the Consumer Duty as we targeted sectors and sub-sectors where it appeared that firms may have been less engaged and prepared. It would therefore not be possible to use it to create any estimates on supervisory resources required or potential enforcement actions, and it was not intended to be used it that way. This survey is part of a much wider programme of work to monitor firms’ embedding of the Duty, and we plan to carry out further quantitative tracking research over the next year.

Supporting document

FOI10291 Annex A[2]

Date of Release: 04/07/2023

Information on consumer duty readiness - July 2023