The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is reviewing how consumer investment firms support bereaved customers, aiming to ensure that processes are centred on people rather than paperwork. The regulator's research indicates that less than half (47%) of bereaved customers felt they received adequate support from financial firms.
Scope of the Review
The review will focus on companies that advise, manage, or administer investments, including platforms, advisers, and wealth managers. The FCA will examine the customer experience from the moment the firm is informed about a bereavement through to the settlement or transfer of investments. Key areas of assessment include how firms communicate with bereaved customers, support for vulnerable customers, service standards, and the handling of account fees.
Regulator's Statement
Kate Tuckley, head of the FCA's consumer investments department, stated: 'When someone loses a loved one, the last thing they need is confusing letters, delays and poor service from their financial provider. We want firms to design bereavement processes with people, not paperwork, at their centre. These processes are a real test of a firm's culture and key to consumer trust.'
Next Steps
Starting in May, the FCA will contact selected firms as part of the review and plans to publish findings later this year, highlighting good practice and areas for improvement. This review follows similar FCA reviews in retail banking and insurance. In March, it emerged that savings giant NS&I is preparing to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds after failures meant that bereaved families were missing out on savings pots. NS&I, which is backed by the Treasury, does not come under the scope of the FCA. However, pensions minister Torsten Bell said in March that while NS&I is not regulated by the FCA, 'the Government expects it to live up to the same standards as regulated deposit-taking banks.'
