New threesixty Tool Helps IFAs Meet TCF Requirements
threesixty, voted the number one IFA support services provider*, is launching a tool to assist IFAs in assessing and demonstrating their compliance with the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly Initiative.
The ‘TCF Monitor’ is provided free to threesixty’s clients, giving them a unique software solution to a regulatory challenge that has left many IFAs unsure about how to respond.
The TCF Monitor has three main parts. In the first section, IFAs must record objective statistics such as the number of customer complaints received and persistency rates. In the second part they assess the subjective opinions of employees within their firms, with a detailed questionnaire provided to ask staff and management how closely they believe their firms are meeting the TCF requirements. In the third part, questionnaires are provided for clients, gauging whether they believe they were treated fairly and how satisfied they were with the services provided by their IFAs.
The data and responses in all three parts are combined to produce an overall score. The report constitutes a full audit trail that can be given to the FSA to prove a company is addressing its TCF responsibilities. The report also serves a commercial purpose, helping firms to gauge areas of customer service that might need improvement.
Phil Young, a Partner at threesixty services, commented: “TCF is principle-led regulation and as such it can difficult for IFAs to know precisely what the FSA is looking for, and prove that they are complying. The danger is that some IFAs will do nothing, which will leave them in hot water when the FSA steps up its level of interest in TCF compliance in the New Year.”
threesixty is staging a series of TCF workshops exclusively for its clients, including a demonstration of how to use the TCF Monitor, in November and December.
For more information about the roadshows, visit the events section of the threesixty website.
*Source: Henry Samuels Marketing Survey, March 2006