Lucy HadrillAs a continuation of its Consumer Investments Strategy (CIS), the FCA has set out the direction of travel for its consumer investments initiatives. It will focus on the following five core initiatives:
- accessible support – when consumers need it and at an affordable cost. The Advice Guidance Boundary Review will explore improvements to the provision of support to help consumers make more effective investment decisions. Any reforms will align with other initiatives such as the Consumer Duty;
- diverse products and services – the FCA wants to see market where consumers have access to a broad range of investments to meet different consumer risk appetites;
- realistic approach to risk – this will include supporting consumers to distinguish between legitimate investment risk and fraudulent products;
- useful information – that is proportionate to the complexity of the investment to help consumers make good decisions;
- appropriate protections – firms should have an appropriate and proportionate framework in place to protect consumers when things go wrong.
Separately, the FCA has published an update on its CIS together with findings from its Consumer Investments data review (April 2022 – March 2023).
