The BVRLA would like to make members aware of updated guidance from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to help firms stay compliant.
The FOS has refreshed its guidance on making awards for distress or inconvenience. FOS’s approach hasn’t changed, but it has issued more detailed guidance to help businesses and their customers reach a fair outcome.
FOS has replaced the bands previously published (moderate, substantial, severe, extreme), with ranges of compensation awards and descriptions of the different levels of impact it might expect to see.
For more information on this update, see the FOS’s website that has been updated with:
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a blog setting out these changes and why it is updating the guidance
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a business-facing page intended to help businesses understand its approach to making distress and inconvenience awards; and
Separately to the FOS updates, the FCA has recently published ‘Remote or hybrid working expectations for firms’. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, firms are already familiar with working in a remote environment and adapting their systems and controls. It is likely many firms will continue these new ways of working, so the FCA has set out expectations so firms can plan and continue to meet their regulatory responsibilities.
These expectations apply to:
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firms proposing to submit further applications, such as a waiver, variation of permission, change of control.
Also see the BVRLA's advice and guidance on the Financial Conduct Authority which helps members navigate the maze of rules and regulations.
