Firms ‘must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly’.
Treating Customers Fairly
The TCF (‘treating customer fairly’) principle aims to raise standards in the way firms carry on their business by introducing changes that will benefit consumers and increase their confidence in the financial services industry.
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TCF Principles
⬑ Return to Compliance Support pageThe principle of TCF is laid out in the FCA sourcebook and must be supported by all regulated firms. It states that firms “must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly”.
Treating Customers Fairly and Customer Satisfaction.
These two are not necessarily related, it is possible that a satisfied customer has been treated unfairly and conversely that a dissatisfied customer has been treated fairly.
Conduct Risk
Business conduct is in a bright and unforgiving spotlight. TCF is not dead; it compliment the Conduct Risk agenda. Although much has been said about Conduct Risk from the regulatory perspective, less has been done to help firms address the issue coherently. In the absence of anything prescriptive from the regulator, firms need to define what conduct risk means for their business and determine how to take positive action to address this risk. While the primary driver for seeking the effective management of conduct risk is to secure commercial success, there are additional pressures stemming from the ever higher standards being demanded by regulators, both nationally and internationally.
How TCF affects the way we do business.
The FCA accepts that firms operate in different ways and there is no set standard for the way in which we operate. It is our responsibility that we review our practices constantly in order to ensure that we are supporting the principle of Treating Customers Fairly and are focussed on achieving the 6 outcomes.
The TCF principles are some of the more vague elements of FCA compliance but are nevertheless central to regulation for all sectors.
The principle is present in all areas of our dealings with customers and includes the products we provide. Promotion and marketing practices, the sales process itself, the information we provide to customers and the way in which we handle our complaints.
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