Regulation Around the World: The UK Consumer Duty: a new global standard, or an outlier?

In this edition of Regulation Around the World we review the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty (UK Consumer Duty) and see if other international financial services authorities have already got similar concepts in their frameworks; or whether the UK Consumer Duty not only sets a new UK standard for conduct in retail markets, but a new international standard across those markets surveyed.

We do this by taking a closer look at eight core components of the UK Consumer Duty, to identify whether it is a global first or whether in fact there are areas of other markets internationally which are already comparable to this new ‘higher standard’ in the UK.

The core components are:

1. Scope of products and services to which UK Consumer Duty applies.
2. Who does the Duty apply to?
3. Products and services outcome: product governance requirements.
4. Price and value: what is ‘fair value’ and what does it require?
5. Consumer support: what does this mean in practice?
6. Consumer understanding.
7. The requirement to ‘act in good faith’.
8. Governance.

In terms of other markets, we review the regimes as they apply to investment business in the European Union, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and the United States.

The publication covers developments to October 30, 2024.

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