Chief compliance officers from leading life and pension firms join Eames Consulting for compliance leadership roundtable

On Wednesday 18th February, I had the pleasure of hosting an online compliance leadership roundtable on behalf of Eames Consulting’s governance, risk and compliance team. We were joined by chief compliance officers from leading life and pensions firms to discuss regulatory articles and updates, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) input on firms’ product development cycles, and AI and data. What were the key takeaways from the roundtable?

Latest FCA articles having a minimal impact

Two articles from the FCA have been occupying a great deal of our attendees’ attention in recent months. First, MS24/1: Pure Protection Market Study, on the distribution of pure protection products, in which a few of our attendees have been involved. Second, the Final Report on premium finance. On both articles, there was a sense that the FCA has been relatively light-touch in its approach, and life and pensions firms perhaps haven’t felt as much of an impact as expected.

In a bid to maximise their interactions with the FCA, many life and pensions firms are looking for business partners and first line sales underwriters who can demonstrate their understanding of regulatory conversations and an ability to partner with the FCA effectively. This is vitally important for senior finance professionals when it comes to being recognised in the market.

Consumer Duty: all gone quiet

Following the previous Consumer Duty deadline focusing on closed book products within a pensions scheme, organisations are now looking at open book products. Since providing the FCA with their board reports, with Consumer Duty included, many of our attendees have been surprised not to receive any feedback. Now that Consumer Duty has been successfully implemented, it could be that the FCA has decided to focus on other work.

Life and pensions firms dipping their toes into AI

Many of our attendees are finding AI useful for document reviews and report summaries. Some of them are looking at trialling AI tools for financial promotion sign-off and marketing sign-off. However, when it comes to second line risk and compliance, AI is still very much in the early stages and none of our attendees feel entirely comfortable about letting AI sign off a document without any human involvement.

From a candidate point of view, showing an interest in AI, and a willingness to upskill, is definitely a positive when it comes to making yourself attractive to an employer. If you’re attending risk committee and board meetings, understanding terminology outside your field of expertise can be really powerful.

Get in touch to join us at our next roundtable

Many thanks to all the compliance leaders who joined us for a fascinating conversation. With our clients based across the length and breadth of the UK, it was really valuable being able to bring them all together to reconnect and catch up on regulatory developments. These discussions are also important when it comes to deepening our relationships with compliance leaders and understanding the issues affecting their roles right now.

If you’d like to find out more about our upcoming roundtables, are looking for your next compliance leadership role or to hire a senior compliance professional for your organisation, please get in touch with me.