Divergence in Consumer Duty application could push asset managers out of UK retail market

Professionals call for greater guidance

The Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty could risk forcing asset management firms to pull UK retail products.

This is due to the disparities between the domestic regulation and regimes in other countries, which may force asset managers to pivot their product strategies away from the retail segment as a result. On 7 December 2021, the FCA coined the term ‘Consumer Duty' but it took the regulator approximately seven months to release the full rules, in July 2022. FCA warns 'top priority' Consumer Duty 'not once and done' event When it did, it set out a seismic shift in the way financial services would operate in the future: everything would need to be approached from a ‘consumer lens' in a b...