As businesses prepare for Consumer Duty, the MorganAsh Resilience System (MARS) and its ‘Resilience Rating’ has been updated to help, with tailored questions around potential coercion now added as part of the vulnerability assessment.
This means firms can identify how vulnerable each client is to the potential risk of coercion or susceptibility to scams, with results contributing towards their overall Resilience Rating.
The MARS system has also gained additional consumer protected characteristics to help IFAs with their diversity reporting.
Consumer Duty now requires all firms to report on protected characteristics, reinforcing the Equalities Act. Adding extra characteristics not previously covered will allow firms to report on this with ease.
“We are really pleased to introduce yet more valuable upgrades for MARS, our comprehensive vulnerability tool,” comments Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh.
“The updates draw on both user feedback and the FCA’s final guidelines for Consumer Duty, giving firms a reliable system to not only meet the demands of regulators, but best protect the vulnerabilities of their customers.
“Coercion of vulnerable people is of increasing concern, especially as scams become more sophisticated and more frequent.
These updates to MARS enable firms to manage and monitor that vulnerability risk, all while showing a clear and consistent compliance approach with the ‘Resilience Rating’ – much like a credit score.
“As with the entire MARS system, we plan to develop this further over time to best meet the needs of financial advisers and their clients to help ensure they can always comply with Consumer Duty.”
The developments to MARS come as businesses head towards the first Consumer Duty deadline. By the end of October, firms must have their implementation plans agreed by their boards.
Then, firms must ensure all products in open books comply by July 2023, and all those in closed books by July 2024.
To find out more or access a free trial, visit: morganash.com/mars or phone: 0330 159 8162
For more information, please contact: Ashley Robertson, bClear Communications
07453 278753 (m) or 01275 542511 (d) or via email: ashley.robertson@bclear.co.uk
About MorganAsh
MorganAsh provides highly differentiated support services for the financial services sector, which combined bespoke technology solutions with human empathy – within a regulated environment. Its services include absence intervention, medical underwriting, tele-interviewing and online data-gathering and vulnerability management. MorganAsh works with the majority of UK and Ireland life insurance companies.
MorganAsh has built the MARS tool to enable advisers and providers to better understand their customers and to be able to communicate this in a consistent, fair and GDPR-compliant manner and be able to monitor this over time. MorganAsh provides guidance and assistance in implementing vulnerability projects across organisations, as well as configuring the MARS system where necessary.