MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS

We will engage directly with them, to let them know about scams, to counter misinformation, to make a complex matter more accessible, or to improve their ability to understand the market.

We will seek to use the most appropriate channels to reach the audience, whether that is our own direct material or using our relationships with consumer organisations, other stakeholders, and sometimes the firms themselves. Our interest is in making sure consumers get the information they need, in a way they can most easily benefit from and via the most credible channel. We recognise that information alone is often not enough, which is why our understanding of behavioural factors and the segmentation analysis are fundamental to developing the right approach to communicating with consumers.

We will make it easier for people to engage with us on matters that concern them. Our website will be clear, simple and straightforward to use. We will make it easy for people to comment on our consultation papers, connect with other regulatory bodies, know their rights or get in touch to help us understand poor practice or their experience.

Working with firms

We recognise that we have to communicate more effectively with firms that want to do the right thing, and we must be clearer about our expectations.

Beyond Day One, as many firms will no longer have their nominated supervisor, we intend that our Contact Centre will be able to handle more issues at the first point of contact for many firms, without needing to refer them on to our supervisors. And we also aim to improve our online support for firms.

We have started a programme to develop the Contact Centre’s skills and knowledge so that the staff are equipped to deal with a broader range of issues. We will have more people on hand, including sector specialists who can answer detailed questions when firms call.

To support all firms, we will provide more regional workshops and roadshows to clarify our expectations on the risks and issues that we believe are important…

As part of the Revised Approach to Small Firms Supervision explained in Chapter 3, we will have a programme that includes us proactively contacting newly authorised firms to explain their regulatory obligations and reporting requirements.

To support all firms, we will provide more regional workshops and roadshows to clarify our expectations on the risks and issues that we believe are important and to cover the subjects firms tell us they want help on. We have successfully piloted these events, with our Positive Compliance Workshops, which were about attitude to risk, writing high-risk business, and the advice process.

As part of a more open approach, we intend to engage more with firms, trade associations, the practitioner panels and other relevant stakeholders when we start pieces of thematic work on issues and products. We will aim to communicate what the problems are that we are investigating and how we intend to carry out the work. With the industry’s cooperation and input we believe we will deliver better- quality supervision and clearer good- or poor- practice examples to report back on.

Our senior supervisors have already begun networking with firms in their sector to gather better intelligence, improve our communication with them and ensure they understand our expectations. For example, our head of asset management meets with firms regularly, including those in the sector who advise investors, to find out what is happening in the market and to get our messages across.

The FCA website is currently being developed as a resource for all users, with clear signposting to help users find what they need quickly. There will be a dedicated firms section from Day One.