The early May Bank Holiday weekend saw a key Consumer Duty deadline: by 30 April 2023 providers had to publish the outcomes of their value assessments for all open products. This is a key milestone on the road to the implementation of the FCA’s Consumer Duty at the end of July.
Aegon has updated its Consumer Duty hub with outcomes of its value assessments which confirm that all its open products offer fair value to customers in their target markets. This means that advisers can move forward to the next step of implementation in the knowledge that whenever recommending an Aegon product, they have access to the information they need to satisfy themselves it has been assessed by Aegon to meet the FCA’s Consumer Duty standards.
Assessing and delivering fair value
Aegon has specific product governance processes and policies in place to ensure good outcomes are delivered and the Consumer Duty principle of fair value is met.
For the convenience of advisers, Aegon provides all the information from its product governance and value assessment in one summary document for each product. This includes product summary information, detailing the product's main features and characteristics, the target market, distribution strategy, any associated risks and associated costs. It also includes the outcome of the value assessment, including when the assessment was carried out and the key factors it considered.
Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon, comments: “The FCA’s 30 April deadline for making the outcomes of value assessments available to distributors heralds the beginning of the final stage of implementation ahead of the Consumer Duty deadline at the end of July.
“While Aegon has procedures that have been in place to measure value for some time – and firms in sectors such as investment or insurance are already subject to rules on assessing value – for many firms this is a new requirement. Now the end of April deadline for value assessment outcomes on open products has passed, distributors have 3 months to review these and to consider whether their clients will still be receiving fair value once they have added their own charges onto those from earlier in the distribution chain. It’s another example of just how important it is for providers and distributors to collaborate on the Consumer Duty.
“Meeting the FCA’s deadline for value assessments should not be seen as ‘job done’. It’s an ongoing requirement and value will need to be assessed on a regular basis to continually evidence that good outcomes are being delivered for customers.”
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