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'Treating Customers Fairly' news
Technological oversights pose TCF risk
17 March, 2008
A significant number of intermediaries have yet to upgrade their in-house systems to the necessary standard to meet 'Treating Customers Fairly' (TCF) requirements, iiCon has claimed.
Brokers submitting online applications were identified by the research to be storing only half of their client communications.
Furthermore, iiCon found that very few brokers had centralised records in place to capture, collate and manage data, with even fewer putting adequate measures in place to record, store and and analyse client conversations.
This leaves the vast majority facing the wrath of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) unless the necessary technological enhancements are made before the end of March.
Peter Weldon, director of iiCon warned: “The FSA is leaving no doubt as to the importance of TCF in their eyes.
"In the past, for most brokers the ability to store all client contact was unrealistic. An average face to face consultation lasting 2 hours would typically require over 16 pages of typed text to record verbatim, and any subsequent phone queries would also need to be recorded.
"However, we are now seeing technology which can offer 100 per cent data capture at a minimal cost. So much of the client contact now takes place away from the traditional face to face interview, brokers must ensure that they capture everything or else they are placing themselves at risk”