Part of ensuring better outcomes for customers under the new consumer duty principles will therefore mean alleviating the volume pressures that can make it tricky for providers to communicate clearly and effectively with customers.
Embed processing technology
One way to improve efficiency could be to employ more staff ahead of known influxes. However, difficulty predicting peaks and troughs in service requirements means balancing the capacity to handle high enquiry volumes with being over-staffed in quieter times can be difficult to achieve and make little commercial sense.
A more feasible option for companies to consider would be to embed processing technology that alleviates manual and often time-consuming tasks, freeing up resource for communicating with customers.
The new consumer duty will have a significant impact on the remortgage market by driving reform and increasing competition across the sector. The consumer duty’s emphasis on transparency, suitability, and customer outcomes will lead to more tailored and suitable information for customers, as well as increased competition as customers are better able to compare deals across different lenders, which is vital in the current economic climate.
Companies that are able to demonstrate they are putting the interests of their customers first will gain a competitive advantage as customers increasingly seek out those they can trust to provide them with the best possible outcomes.
Raising the bar across the industry and driving reform is not only in the best interests of customers, but serves to benefit competition and innovation in the sector too.
James Bawa is UK chief executive of Pexa
