{"id":28763,"date":"2025-10-15T14:52:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davies-group.com\/consulting\/?post_type=blog&p=28763"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:38:04","slug":"consumer-duty-smcr-reforms","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/davies-group.com\/consulting\/blog\/consumer-duty-smcr-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Duty & SMCR reforms – and what they mean for asset & wealth managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 2025 marked two years since a landmark shift in UK financial regulation was introduced\u2014the FCA\u2019s Consumer Duty for open products. Since then, firms within the financial sector have been challenged to move beyond compliance and demonstrate they are delivering genuinely good outcomes for consumers. On 30 September, the FCA published its latest corporate document outlining Consumer Duty focus areas for 2025-26. This introduced new priorities around outcome monitoring, product governance, and customer understanding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with the FCA\u2019s evolving expectations and the parallel reform of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR, or SMCR), the asset and wealth management industry is facing a new wave of scrutiny and reform. Particularly where governance, clearer accountability and customer-centricity are concerned. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the landscape constantly evolving, it\u2019s crucial to stay on top of the FCA\u2019s Consumer Duty guidelines and other regulations to ensure compliance. Here, we explore the Duty\u2019s requirements, and what asset and wealth managers need to know and do, to stay ahead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consumer Duty: From implementation to impact<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The FCA\u2019s Consumer Duty has been a key driver in changing how firms approach customer outcomes. For asset and wealth managers, this means moving beyond traditional compliance models and embedding a culture of doing the right thing, providing fair value to clients, transparency and proactive support.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Consumer Duty principle requires firms to deliver good outcomes for retail customers (Principle 12). This is underpinned by the three cost cutting rules, requiring firms to act in good faith, prevent foreseeable harm and support customers in achieving their financial goals. <\/span><\/p>\n

These rules are supported by the four outcomes whereby all FCA-related firms (and those who have a material influence over retail customer outcomes) must consider:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n