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What is ISO 22222 and can it help your TCF? |
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 A little-known standard for UK adviser firms automatically embeds the FSA’s treating customers fairly (TCF) principles, the firm behind it claims.
Standards International says the exam-free ISO 22222, which has been endorsed by the regulator’s RDR head Amanda Bowe, demonstrates to consumers that IFAs have TCF policies and practices in place.
ISO says many firms may now have TCF policies in place but adds it is “questionable” what proportion of these policies are embedded within the firm compared with those that are “simply paying lip service”.
Melanie Blackmore, director of Standards International, says: “To ensure that advisers continually demonstrate ‘best practice’, ISO 22222 gives firms and consumers peace of mind that advisers continue to demonstrate their professionalism and meet statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements.”
Created in 2006, ISO 22222 is available to all adviser firms as well as to individual advisers but does not involve compulsory exams.
Instead advisers only need “demonstrate knowledge”, although creators of ISO 22222 confirm a range of exams - at SCQF Level 8 – “could count towards the knowledge”.
It says it aims to provide best practice and to demonstrate advisers have the right knowledge, skills, ethics and experience to deliver quality services to customers.
To become certified, qualified ISO agents visit firms and study the day-to-day work of their advisers, among other requirements.
Standards International says, to fully meet the FSA’s TCF requirements, it is essential that TCF is a fundamental part of the firm’s culture.
It says if a TCF culture truly exists within a firm, then advisers “should be living and breathing TCF, not referring to a TCF document if and when challenged”.
For further information about ISO 22222, e-mail
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or call 01462 790 894. Source: IFAONLINE.co.uk |
