Customer vulnerability is a complex area that PIMFA member firms must get right. Ultimately, it is about identifying customers with vulnerable characteristics and ensuring they consistently experience good outcomes. That’s not as easy as it sounds, especially when The FCA has made clear that it will apply a vulnerability lens to its ongoing supervisory and enforcement work. This live tutor-led training course delivered by vulnerability experts at the Money Advice Trust, based on PIMFA's recently published 160-page guide, "Understanding Customer Vulnerability", supports wealth managers and financial advisors who want to improve how they can: Embed a focus on vulnerability into their strategy and culture. Ensure they are asking the right questions about the data, management information, and data they need to deliver the right outcomes and experiences for customer vulnerability. Account for customer vulnerability in product and service design. Actively monitor customer behaviour and consider potential vulnerability in customer interactions. Support and enable customers with characteristics of vulnerability to disclose their needs. Capturing and retrieving information about vulnerability during subsequent customer interactions By enrolling on this course, you’ll be able to answer with confidence the following questions: How do you identify customer vulnerability, and what criteria do you use for this assessment? What specific support mechanisms are in place to assist customer vulnerability throughout their interaction with your firm? How do you tailor and test communication strategies to ensure that customers with vulnerable characteristics understand the products and services offered? Are your services and communications accessible to all customers, including those with disabilities or other barriers? How do you monitor the effectiveness of your support for customer vulnerability, and what metrics do you use? What procedures do you have in place for escalating the needs of customers with characteristics of vulnerability to senior management or specialised teams? How do you ensure that products and services offered to customers with vulnerable characteristics appropriately meet their needs? Who Should Attend: SMF holders who require the knowledge and understanding to promote a culture of awareness and responsiveness to vulnerable clients in line with current and future FCA expectations. Sales & Marketing Directors tasked with ensuring that the firm’s financial promotions and customer communications don’t exploit vulnerable consumers. Compliance and Risk leaders that want a proven framework to better recognise, assess, and manage potential risks related to customers with characteristics of vulnerability . Regulatory risk professionals and in-house counsel who, having identified evidence of consumer harm or risk of harm to customers in vulnerable circumstances, need to develop a remediation strategy to avoid assertive supervisory and enforcement action.  Internal auditors who wanting to ‘up their firm’s game’ seek to ensure effective monitoring and reporting mechanisms are in place to track how the firm identifies and serves customer vulnerability, evaluating both the processes and the outcomes. Offer: Bring your colleague along for free - please enter code 6JZWEFP5 at checkout.

Non-Financial Misconduct (NFM) is now a boardroom issue. Workplace behaviours such as harassment, bullying, discrimination and abuse are, in the eyes of the regulator, indicators of a poor workplace culture, lacking diversity and inclusion in your firm. High-profile cases from the past year and the recent FCA D&I Consultation Paper (CP23/20) underscore that non-financial misconduct poses a significant business risk that needs addressing. Whether certain behaviours of individuals working in financial services, particularly outside of the workplace, fall under the FCA's supervision's remit is much debated; what's not is the regulator's belief that 'non-financial misconduct can amount to a breach of our conduct rules'. In this practical, scenario-based, in-person training session, delivered by regulatory and employment lawyers who have dealt with non-financial misconduct issues firsthand, you'll learn how to navigate the challenges of investigating NFM in your firm, understand when NFM might breach the conduct rules and assess the impact of NFM on the fit and proper assessment. Immediately after the training, you will receive a zip folder of key resources and checklists referred to in the training session which you can use to help you enhance your policies, processes, and practices around NFM. Attending this session and leveraging the resources will give you the knowledge and confidence to: 1. Ready your firm for anticipated new rules on NFM. 2. Align your firm’s whistle-blowing policy, reporting process and procedure to the regulators expectations 3. Recognise and escalate NFM incidents appropriately 4. Manage NFM incidents 5. Ensure regular communications between the HR and compliance teams to deal with and manage NFM incidents 6. Assess what may amount to ‘serious’ misconduct 7. Accurately record NFM incidents 8. Understand when NFM should be reported to the FCA What you’ll cover in the session: - Overview of Non-Financial Misconduct (NFM) - FCA’s Stance on Non-Financial Misconduct - Regulatory Framework and Guidelines - Compliance Obligations for PIMFA member firms - Key Responsibilities of Senior Managers - Reporting and Documentation Requirements - Implementing Effective Policies and Procedures - Approaches to creating a Positive Organisational Culture - Establishing Clear Conduct Standards - Training and Awareness Programs - Monitoring/measuring culture - Whistleblowing, complaints handling and investigations - Discipline for NFM - Regulatory references - Reporting to the FCA - Interactive Case Studies of Non-Financial Misconduct in Financial Services - Lessons Learned from Past Incidents - Best Practices for Mitigating Non-Financial Misconduct - Successful Strategies from Leading Firms - Continuous Improvement and Learning - Monitoring and assessments - Q&A Session Who Should Attend: • Compliance and Conduct leaders seeking guidance on how to: - Deal with allegations of non-financial misconduct - Recognise whether NFM is an isolated incidence or an indicator of a wider culture issue • HR leaders who want to ready their firm’s response for new FCA rules and guidance, including the impact NFM could have on remuneration and how NFM should be dealt with in a regulatory reference. • In-house counsel who seek assurance of when and how to respond to allegations of non-financial misconduct. This training course will take place IN PERSON at the DAC Beachcroft London Office located at 25 Walbrook, London EC4N 8AF   Bring a colleague along for free! Use VOUCHER CODE  BG3N8AKH at checkout to claim this buy-one-get-one-free offer!   This voucher can only be used when purchasing 2 full price tickets

Are you ready to demonstrate operational resilience by 31 March 2025? Be under no illusion your firm’s Operational Resilience Self-Assessment document will be the first item the FCA requests to see when assessing your firm’s ability to deliver important business services throughout operational disruptions such as cyber-attacks, technology failures or third-party disruptions. And with the FCA’s deadline of 31st March 2025 fast approaching for boards of enhanced SMCR firms to review and approve their written self-assessment, now is the time to ensure this essential document demonstrates to the regulator your firm’s ability to prevent, adapt to, respond to, and recover from disruptions. Helping you get your report right first time In this live, tutor-led online course, Richard Preece, Chair of PIMFA’s Operational Working Group, assists you to avoid the pitfalls firms make when drafting your self-assessment, ensuring that you can: 1. Clearly articulate the FCA expectations for your firm’s operational resilience self-assessments, including the required elements (important business services, impact tolerances, mapping, scenario testing, lessons learned, vulnerabilities, and communication strategy). You will receive guidance on the size and level of detail of the Self-Assessment document that’s proportionate to your firm’s activities. 2. Construct a comprehensive self-assessment document that effectively demonstrates your firm’s full compliance with the regulation. This includes understanding the appropriate format, size, and content of the document. Time on the course has been allocated to provide guidance on addressing challenges like proportionality, consumer harm mitigation, and justification of methodologies. 3. Identify and effectively manage key challenges associated with operational resilience, particularly those relating to outsourcing (both intra-group and third-party), and 4th parties. Through case studies and examples, your trainer will offer practical solutions and best practices to mitigate third-party risks. 4. Implement a process for regularly reviewing and updating the self-assessment document to reflect changes in the business, market conditions, and lessons learned. Your trainer will emphasise the nature of the self-assessment and strategies for ongoing maintenance and governance. 5. Follow a proven plan to enhance the sophistication of the self-assessment process over time, improving the maturity of your firm’s operational resilience practices. The course will assist you in making progressive improvements in mapping, scenario testing, and vulnerability remediation, particularly when there is a significant change to the business. Who should attend this course? • Board members who have questions or doubts about their firm’s Self-Assessment seek assurances that ‘nothing has been missed’ before approval is given. • Senior Managers, typically the SMF24, who, in updating the firm’s self-assessment, seeks to articulate how the firm plans to address the vulnerabilities to remain within the set impact tolerances in line with FCA expectations. • Heads of Operational Risk and Compliance looking to benchmark with their peers how their firm evidences the effects of disruptions and ensure financial stability. Bring a colleague along for free!  Use voucher code XCEMPQ5U at checkout for 50% 2 tickets!