Mortgage, protection and compliance services disributor Paradigm has launched a hub to house links to product manufacturers’ fair value and target market assessment documentation.
The launch coincides with new responsibilities under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Consumer Duty that mean from 30 April all product manufacturers of regulated products are required to provide a fair value assessment of their products.
The fair value assessment documents have to be accessed by advisers and assessed by each individual firm in order to review whether they believe the products offer fair value to their customers.
Firms can then use these documents when assessing the fair value of their own service propositions .
Manufacturer statements should help advisers to:
- understand the characteristics of the products;
- understand the identified target market; consider the needs, characteristics and objectives of any customers who may potentially be vulnerable;
- identify the intended distribution strategy;
- and ensure the product will be distributed in accordance with the target market.
Paradigm has housed all the fair value assessment documentation links made available to them from manufacturers on its website within its Consumer Duty support hub.
The distributor added this had been done to save advisers time to be able to quickly access links to documents in one place, rather than visiting each individual manufacturer website.
Christine Newell, mortgage technical director at Paradigm, said: “Rather than having to visit every single product manufacturer’s website and search for their fair value assessment documentation, we have created this link hub which is split by sector, and should ease the process for advisers and firms, in what is a requirement under Consumer Duty.
“Product manufacturers are providing Paradigm with these links and advisory firms should now be making use of these documents in order to undertake the reviews which will help them meet their Consumer Duty obligations.
“It is another process step change for advisers but one that, we at Paradigm, are aiming to make as easy as possible, with all documentation accessible from one, rather than multiple, website pages.
“We are just a few months away from the official start of the Consumer Duty rules, but as firms can see, the requirements need to be met on an ongoing basis.”
