The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced a new requirement called Consumer Duty.

The Duty sets higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services. Banks and other financial institutions (often called ‘firms’) have been busy putting plans in place to comply with the new rules,

Consumer Duty applies to financial products and services for retail customers, this includes charities and voluntary organisations.

It’s important you know what to expect from financial institutions, including your bank. You should now get the following.

• Clear communications that you can understand.
• Fair prices for products and services.
• The same deals as new customers. New customers shouldn’t have advantages over existing customers. For example, they shouldn’t be offered a lower price for a product.
• Information about new products that are more competitive. For example, your bank should tell you if they open a new savings account that has a better interest rate than your existing account.
• Good customer support.
• Appropriate ways to get help and provide feedback. For example, if your bank isn’t open 24 hours, they should provide an out of hours service for reporting fraudulent activity.

Read more about what this means for your organisation, and what you can do on NCVO's website.