WHITE PAPER: Understanding Vulnerability – what we have learnt in 2024
If the FCA graded your Vulnerable Customer strategy, what do you think you’d score?
Graeme Reynolds, FCA Director, stated recently:
“The first, vital, step is identifying vulnerability. You can’t begin to think about how to deal with vulnerability, how to meet your client’s needs if you haven’t first considered which of your clients might be vulnerable and why.”
His observation has given insight into a possible FCA marking scheme:
FAIL the firm has made assumptions about the characteristics of vulnerability and has launched initiatives based on intuition rather than data.
C- the firm has conducted research to understand vulnerability amongst their customers which has informed their vulnerable customer strategy.
B+ the firm understands vulnerability, has used the data to inform strategy, and has made changes to products, comms, policy, etc. that will lead to better outcomes.
A* the firm understands vulnerability, has an informed strategy, has made changes, and can evidence the positive impact these changes have made to outcomes.
With the FCA’s Vulnerability Report just around the corner, one thing is clear—understanding vulnerability isn’t optional anymore. During 2024, FWD has been hard at work helping firms meet that crucial first step: understanding what vulnerability looks like in their customer base for them to developed informed strategy.
Want to elevate your strategy and ensure you’re headed towards that A*?
To download the whitepaper please complete the form below:
