The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has launched a new Consumer Duty Toolkit to help mortgage and insurance intermediaries strengthen and evolve their approach to Consumer Duty.
The new toolkit builds on the AMI's original Consumer Duty factsheets, published in 2022, which laid the foundation for initial implementation through to embedding the Duty into business practices, helping firms understand regulatory expectations and put them into practice.
Through its analysis and engagement with members, the Association says it has identified demand for more than regulatory guidance. Intermediaries want practical insight into how Consumer Duty can be applied, opportunities to learn from other firms and ways to build on the work they have already done.
The new Consumer Duty Toolkit offers practical examples, insights and frameworks to help firms improve consumer outcomes and use Consumer Duty as a strategic tool for continuous business improvement.
The toolkit has been developed primarily for directly authorised firms, particularly smaller businesses that may have fewer internal compliance resources. However, larger firms and networks will also be able to draw on its good-practice examples, insights and frameworks.
The toolkit includes a short refresher video covering the key principles and what they mean in practice, alongside practical guides, videos and infographics and member case studies and podcasts.
The kit will also provide complaints analysis, exploring Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) complaints data, bringing together upheld and not upheld cases to highlight key trends, draw out insights and help firms understand the implications for their own practices and consumer outcomes.
Stephanie Charman, chief executive of AMI, said: “Firms have put an enormous amount of work into implementing Consumer Duty, but it was never intended to be a one-off exercise. The challenge now is to make sure it becomes embedded in how businesses operate and continues to deliver better outcomes for customers.
“Our members have told us they want practical support that goes beyond explaining what the rules say and helps them understand what good can look like in the real world. That is particularly important for smaller directly authorised firms, which may not have large compliance teams or the resources available to bigger businesses.
“We have designed this toolkit to be genuinely useful. It brings together practical examples, case studies, guidance and tools that firms can use to challenge their existing thinking, learn from others and identify where they could strengthen their approach.
“Consumer Duty should not simply be viewed as another regulatory obligation. Used well, it can provide a framework for firms to understand their customers better, test whether they are delivering the outcomes they intend and ultimately build stronger businesses.”
