It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it

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It seems there are few in the industry willing to talk about it but a major regulatory deadline passed last Friday: firms' implementation date for the treating customers fairly (TCF) regime.

Until now, whenever I’ve asked an adviser what TCF actually means, firms have tended to respond by arguing everything it does is with the customer in mind so the new layer of regulation has had little impact on their businesses. However, a fresh perspective on the subject has left me wondering whether intermediary firms really understand what the FSA was looking for at implementation stage. Despite the work firms have to have done to show every aspect of their business process is TCF-compliant, it seems the real aim of treating customers fairly is to change the culture and behaviour of th...

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