Britain’s financial watchdog this week launched two reviews of retail conduct and insurance rules to cut costs and improve competitiveness, now that a strict new duty to put consumers first has had time to bed down.
Under the rule introduced a year ago, financial firms must show the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) they put customers’ interests first when designing and selling products – a measure aimed at drawing a line under past mis-selling scandals.
The FCA said on Monday it was asking the industry to identify retail conduct rules that could be scrapped or simplified if they overlap with the new duty, giving them until the end of October to do so.
“We now want to seize the opportunity of the Duty and the move to a clear outcomes-based approach to streamline our rulebook, lowering costs for businesses and supporting the competitiveness and growth of the economy,” FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi said in a statement.
A second review will consider simplifying customer protection rules for commercial insurance sold to businesses, a market worth 15.5…
