Gaps found in FCA review of bereavement and power of attorney customer care

All firms need to improve their practices regarding the treatment of the heirs after a bereavement or granting of power of attorney, according to the FCA - which has reviewed the operations of businesses across the bank, building society, payments and electronic money sector.

By Neasa MacErlean

The review looks in particular at adherence to the Consumer Duty and the Financial Conduct Authority's Vulnerability Guidance. While it "saw evidence of good practice in the support provided to customers ... this was not universally the case". The busiest area of the four examined was "identifying and responding to customer needs" in which the FCA highlights four fields of good practice and five needing improvement. Training issues were among the latter, as was the incidence of staff not acknowledging that customers were "noticeably distressed and upset" in some cases. The FCA comments: "As well as a general lack of empathy, these instances suggested staff were unable to recognise potential support needs or lacked the training to help them to do so."