Putting together features of Home Buyer’s Compliance Officer System, combined with the compliant sales process, the TCF facility covers financial promotions, complaints handling, and customer communications.
For the financial promotions checking and sign off process, the TCF facility uses a messaging system for promotions to be checked, commented on and signed off, creating a permanent record of the procedures being followed. It also prompts review of promotions every three months (in case of any changes in the regulatory rules) and generates reports on all promotions ever used, those that are currently used, and those that are currently authorised for use.
Regarding the complaints handling procedure, the Home Buyer TCF facility provides a full audit trail, including all correspondence relating to it (either generated by the system or by allowing documents to be attached), a two way messaging system between the compliance team and the advisor and management information that gives an analysis of the number, type, who is getting the complaints and so on.
The customer communications element is designed to ensure delivery of TCF outcome number three: “Customers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale”. It includes a diary-forward system that automatically prompts the adviser to re-contact the customer before their current product comes to an end. In the case of payment protection insurance, if no cover has initially been arranged the diary systems prompts future contact with the customer to check their situation and reconsider taking out a suitable policy.
Richard Angliss, managing director of Home Buyer Systems, commented: “Many mortgage and general insurance firms may be finding it hard to grasp how a principles-based regulatory system – and especially the FSA’s principle number six on treating customers fairly – can be translated into day-to-day processes. The Home Buyer system has always been based on generating evidence to support the fact that the FSA’s principles for business are being upheld, so we have a lot of experience in turning high level aspirations into deliverable solutions. We believe that our new, stand-alone TCF faclility contains all the “must-have” components to deliver the six TCF outcomes, and that using it will give firms and networks confidence that they have sound evidence to prove that the TCF principle is being upheld within their organisation.”
