The new Consumer Duty significantly extends the FCA’s regulatory regime targeting retail firms and their supply chain. The extensive new rules recently consulted upon will likely result in significant financial service changes. They signal an important new direction for the FCA, with a strong consumer outcome focus.

The Duty will require significant changes to how firms communicate with their customers, what they need to consider before they do, and how they must track consumer understanding to ensure customers receive better outcomes. It will likely require new and innovative processes and technologies to deliver the new rules, with the changes expected to cost the industry over £ 2 billion to implement.

The webinar summarises the key components of the new proposals:

· The scope of the new duty and principle

· The cross-cutting rules

· The four outcomes

Exploring the proposals relating to customer communications in greater depth and what this might mean for innovation in the sector.

Matt, Kate, Zhengge, Wenjia &Caesar attended West Midlands Tech Launch at The Oculus, Warwick University, demonstrated the Gillmore Lab VR capabilities and discussed the vision of the Gillmore Centre with delegates . The new network ‘Tech WM’ was launched by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and was accompanied by the following report that provided insights into the growth of Tech in the West Midlands region.