Treating Customers Fairly (TCF): Customer-Centric Practices in Financial Services

Treating Customers Fairly (TCF): Customer-Centric Practices in Financial Services

At the heart of the Financial Services Board's (FSB) initiative, Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), lies the commitment to ingraining the principle of fair customer treatment in the ethos of regulated financial firms. TCF is a forward-looking regulatory approach focusing on delivering specific and tangible fairness outcomes to users of financial services.

This approach encompasses the entire spectrum of a product's life cycle, including design, marketing, advisory services, servicing, and handling of complaints and claims, ensuring fairness is a constant throughout the product value chain.

Incorporating TCF is a pivotal element in the mandate of the new Market Conduct Regulator under the Twin Peaks model. The FSB is progressively integrating TCF into its supervisory methodologies.

At One Sure, our journey with TCF began by integrating it into our organisational fabric, starting with an internal campaign to foster awareness among our team. This initiative involved comprehensive staff training, ensuring that TCF principles were deeply embedded in our corporate culture before extending these practices to our external operations.

The six pivotal outcomes of TCF are:

· Culture and Governance: Establishing a firm culture where the fair treatment of clients is paramount.

· Product Design: Crafting products and services that cater to the needs of specific customer groups, ensuring they are targeted effectively.

· Clear Communication: Providing clients with transparent information and keeping them well-informed throughout their engagement with us.

· Suitable Advice: Ensuring that any advice given is appropriate and considers the client's unique circumstances.

· Performance and Standards: Aligning product performance and service standards with client expectations.

· Claims, Complaints, and Changes: Guaranteeing that clients face no unreasonable obstacles in altering products, switching providers, making claims, or lodging complaints.

One Sure's vision is to transcend the foundational aspects of TCF, fostering mutually beneficial relationships with our policyholders. By integrating fair customer treatment into our culture, strategy, and processes, we not only uphold our commitment to our clients but also pave the way for a sustainable future. Our internal governance is dedicated to this cause, ensuring we continually uphold and exceed these standards.