CONSUMER DUTY NEWSLETTER

In terms of protection, from our perspective, there is much to be positive about in the Consumer Duty rules, especially around the focus on outcomes, ensuring consumers have the right products, and that they are provided with the protection they need should they need to call upon it. In my eyes, this is a clear opportunity to grow the market and ultimately ensure that more individuals are protected. In fact, you might call the Consumer Duty something of a ‘Protection Charter’, because it appears to rule out any possibility of advisers putting their protection conversations on the back burner until a later date. On the contrary, all firms, including those who are battling with the pressures and the complexities of the current mortgage market, must provide a solution to address their clients’ protection needs. The very basic question has to be addressed here – what would the client do if they were, for any reason, unable to keep up payments on their mortgage? That is a potential outcome of providing advice and a recommendation on a mortgage, and therefore (at the very least) the adviser has to address the protection policies the client has in place, or rather doesn’t have, to address that potential outcome. We know that last year, the average age at claim for income protection policies with Legal & General was 40 years old. When we compare this to the average age of a first time buyer in London which is around 35 years old, it clearly demonstrates that there is no longer a case to be made for protection needs to be addressed at a later stage. This is not to say that the adviser has to provide the protection advice themselves – but they have to ask the question, address the risks, outline the benefits of certain protection policies, and then present the client with the solutions available. Again, this could be via their own advice or perhaps through an introduction to a specialist protection adviser. Paradigm can support these introductions and facilitate a relationship which can offer this solution. In October, Paradigm launched a new partnership with Assured Futures. Assured Futures is a specialist Life and Health Insurance intermediary, specialising in producing bespoke solutions for partner companies and websites. Their specialist areas are Life Insurance, Private Medical Insurance, Income Protection, Accident Sickness and Unemployment cover. Assured Futures have an unblemished compliance record, a no cross-sale guarantee, 4.9 out of 5 Trustpilot score and a first class reputation amongst insurers, partners and clients alike. Click here to find out more, and if you’d like to learn more about your referral options from Pardigm, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. What the Consumer Duty appears to say – at least from my reading – is that advisers cannot ignore protection or gloss over it, or somehow suggest that this isn’t relevant Consumer Duty: A Protection Charter? How the new rules will impact the Protection Market 10 CONSUMER DUTY NEWSLETTER Michael Allison Director of Protection Paradigm Protect