The first of Marshalls' new FCA compliance training to debut this summer focuses on the Financial Conduct Authority's new Consumer Duty rules, due to come into effect on 31 July. The course provides a timely introduction to the new duty, including how it applies and how it can be implemented so that different types of companies - and the staff working within them - meet their obligations to put consumers' needs first and deliver fair value.

Importantly, the latest survey evidence from the FCA shows that most financial services firms say that they are on track to successfully implement these new consumer regulations, which will radically affect how businesses serve, communicate with, and support new and existing retail customers.

A critical part of being Consumer Duty ready is ensuring that all employees - especially those who are front line and customer facing - have been trained in the intricacies of the new Consumer Duty requirements. Senior managers may also need additional, specialised training, as they will now be subject to a new (sixth) individual conduct rule under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR).

David Marshall, MD of Marshall eLearning at Ciphr, says, "The FCA's new Consumer Duty has implications for financial services providers across many markets. The new regulations place an increased emphasis on transparency, accountability, and fair treatment of consumers, and financial services staff will need up-to-date, regular training as part of that to fully understand and implement all these changes effectively. Failure to meet these new obligations could result in big fines from the FCA, so there's a big incentive for organisations to get this right.
"In addition to covering the consumer duty, our new compliance courses - developed in partnership with Victoria Sena, a well-known expert in regulation, compliance, governance, and risk management - will feature other key financial regulations, such as the AIFMD, IDD, Solvency II, and MiFID II frameworks, and give an overview of the roles of the UK's main financial regulators for newer employees. There will also be a dedicated risk and risk management series, focusing on operational risk, market risk, conduct risk, communications, gifts and inducements, and training on combating greenwashing and how to incorporate sustainability into business practices. Some of these courses are available to buy now, while others will be released over the coming few months."

Marshall adds, "We've worked closely with many financial organisations over the years, such as the Bank of England, the FCA, Lloyd's, and Prudential, on their diversity and inclusion programmes. This new compliance training significantly broadens our content offering and enables us to support even more people working in this important sector with their essential training and development and CPD requirements."

New compliance training courses from Marshall E-Learning in 2023 include

• Consumer Duty
• Regulators Introduction series

                        Introduction to the Bank of England and Prudential Regulation Authority

                        Introduction to the Financial Conduct Authority

                        Introduction to The Pensions Regulator

                        Introduction to the Financial Ombudsman Service

• Spotlight on Regulations series

                  Spotlight on APER for FCA-approved workers

                  Spotlight on MiFID II regulates financial markets for the benefit of investor

                  Spotlight on AIFMD for alternative investments

                  Spotlight on Solvency II for insurance regulators

                  Spotlight on EMIR for European Market Infrastructure Regulation

                  Spotlight on IDD for insurance regulators

• Risk and Risk Management series

                        Market Risk

                        Operational Risk

                        Conduct Risk (Human Risk)

                        Communication

                        Gifts and Inducements

• SM&CR, and Sustainability

                  Senior Managers and Certification Regime

                        Greenwashing

                        Understanding Sustainable Finance

                        FinTech and RegTech

Existing courses, including those on "vulnerable customers" and "treating customers fairly", are also being updated to reflect the new duty.