Consumer Duty:
Transforming UK Consumer Lending
Consumer Duty 2024: Higher standards of care for all for retail customers throughout the lending journey
The Duty requires firms to work proactively in delivering good customer outcomes and makes sure they’re connecting with customers who are less engaged and those they may have lost contact with altogether.
The FCA wants to see all customers being treated fairly and there are potentially steep penalties and consequent reputational damage for non-compliance.
Complying with consumer duty requirements starts with a clear understanding of who your customers are and being in regular touch with them
Managing deceased customers appropriately
- Are you unwittingly demanding payments from deceased customers?
- Are you proactively screening for mortality and are your checks sufficiently frequent?
- Are you repatriating assets quickly enough to relatives or beneficiaries of the deceased?
- Can you rapidly identify any accounts and funds you hold for a deceased customer?
Achieve a deeper, richer and more accurate view of customers
Your ability to understand and manage customer relationships depends on one thing: fast access to the most reliable, complete and current customer information. But common events such as home moves, emigration, phone number changes, marriage, divorce and death all lead to your customer data becoming inaccurate.
Regular, effective data cleansing helps retain its value, allowing you to better understand your customers and engage with them effectively, while helping you meet your Consumer Duty and data protection obligations.
This process can be further improved through data enrichment, enabling you to better understand your customer and deliver greater value.
What actions are you taking in relation to less engaged or gone away customers?
Trace and reconnect with gone away customers
We can help you trace less engaged or gone away customers and their beneficiaries and intermediaries, enabling prompt repatriation of assets. Our tracing solutions can also be used to support your Collections teams in tracing debtors, or your Legal and Fraud teams with investigations. Beyond initial tracing, we can also support you with ongoing data management, minimising the risks associated with data decay and making sure you maintain reliable personal and contact information to enable you to stay in regular touch with your full customer-base.
Our market-leading tracing solutions can help you:
- Trace individuals or larger batches of gone away customers.
- Manually trace for more challenging, higher value dormant accounts.
- Identify where customer records are out of date and could be enhanced by appending additional details and contact information to help you keep in touch.
- Manage your customer data continuously and alerting you of changes, reducing exposure to regulatory risks and improving your ability to deliver consistently good customer experiences.
Where needed, we can also supplement your own teams with experts in specialist data management and investigation services, who can help you cleanse and enrich data and locate difficult-to-find customers. Our experienced tracers, comprehensive reference data, innovative techniques and leading technology will significantly increase the likelihood of you being able to locate lost customers efficiently and manage your customer data more effectively.
LexisNexis® TraceIQ®
Combining powerful linking technology and intuitive functionality with extensive data, sourced from a wealth of public records and multiple credit bureaus, LexisNexis® TraceIQ® is a market leading tracing and investigation web application.
LexisNexis® Smartcleanse®
Improving accuracy and correctness of data, while also appending additional insightful information, LexisNexis® Smartcleanse®, an online bureau of data management solutions will enhance the value of your database.
Embracing Consumer Duty
By embracing the Consumer Duty, UK consumer lending firms can cultivate a reputation for fairness and transparency. This not only fosters trust with customers but also leads to a more sustainable business model. Firms that prioritise positive Consumer Duty outcomes are likely to experience improved customer retention, reduced risk of complaints, and a positive brand image. Remember, the FCA expects demonstrable improvement and for this to be reported within the annual reports and accounts. Regularly review your lending practices, assess customer outcomes, and adapt your processes to ensure you're consistently delivering positive Consumer Duty outcomes for all borrowers.
We would like to offer you a free, no obligation data audit to help you assess your customer data quality and see:
- Where your data is out of date or inaccurate.
- Where missing data could be usefully appended.
- How our extensive data universe could help to enhance the details you hold on customers.
