About Consumer Duty
The FCA's Consumer Duty introduces a new Consumer Principle requiring firms to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. It sets higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
These rules apply to both new and existing products open to sale or renewal, and represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for UK financial services.
The Three Principles
Consumer Duty is built on three overarching principles that all regulated firms must uphold:
Act in Good Faith
Act in good faith towards customers at all times across all interactions and products.
Avoid Foreseeable Harm
Avoid causing foreseeable harm to customers, including through product design and communications.
Enable Financial Objectives
Enable customers to pursue their financial objectives effectively and without unnecessary barriers.
Four Pillars of Success
Consumer Duty is structured around four cross-cutting pillars that define the outcomes firms must achieve:
Customer Understanding
Ensure products fit the target market and match customer needs, with clear and effective communications.
Pricing and Fair Value
Ensure customers pay fair prices that reflect the value of the products and services they receive.
Product and Service Governance
Design products and services specifically to meet the needs of the intended target market.
Customer Support
Provide good service throughout the customer journey and ensure overall customer satisfaction.
How We Deliver
These principles and pillars are central to how Cepta interacts with customers and prospective customers. Our commitments include:
Consumer Understanding
All communications — written, visual, or verbal — support consumer understanding, helping customers make informed decisions. Information is tailored and delivered through appropriate channels to meet customer needs. Communications are clear, fair, and not misleading, maximizing customer engagement and enabling effective decision-making.
Fair Value
We regularly assess the value our products and services provide to ensure customers receive fair and transparent pricing that reflects the quality and utility of what they receive.
Product Governance
Our products are designed and regularly reviewed with the target customer in mind. We ensure they meet genuine needs and do not impose unnecessary barriers or risks.
Customer Support
We provide accessible, responsive support throughout the customer lifecycle, ensuring customers can get help when they need it and that their concerns are addressed promptly and fairly.
Supporting Customers in Vulnerable Circumstances
The FCA defines vulnerability as susceptibility to detriment due to personal circumstances. Cepta is committed to identifying and supporting customers who may be vulnerable. Our approach includes:
- Training colleagues to recognize and appropriately support customers with vulnerability characteristics
- Implementing processes for customers to share and record their support needs
- Sharing vulnerability information appropriately across teams to ensure consistent support
- Regularly reviewing our practices to improve outcomes for vulnerable customers
Our Complaints Framework
Cepta has robust complaints reporting, processes, and controls in place to ensure complaints are handled fairly and effectively. Our framework covers three key areas:
Customer Awareness
Customers are clearly informed about how to raise a complaint, including through our website, product communications, and support channels. Our full complaints procedure is available at cepta.co/complaints.
Handling a Complaint
Our processes cover receiving, investigating, and learning from complaints. We ensure quality assurance in every stage of complaint handling, with dedicated personnel responsible for each case.
Complaint Resolution
Steps include clarifying the nature of the complaint, assessing its merits, finding a fair resolution, and — where necessary — referring customers to the Money Advice Service or relevant ombudsman.
Get in Touch
For support or to raise a complaint, please contact us using the details below. We are committed to responding promptly and ensuring your concerns are addressed fairly.