TCF Deadlines

All firms were expected to have reached the ‘implementation’ stage of TCF in a substantial part of their business by the end of March 2007. The FSA defines implementation as 'allocating resources and responsibilities; developing plans and processes; and creating capability'. It sees firms which are implementing as ‘delivering on their plans to treat their customers fairly.’

Progress against the March 2007 deadline

The FSA published a report on progress following the March deadline. Key findings were:

93 per cent of major retail firms met the deadline
87 per cent of medium size retail firms met the deadline
74 per cent of wholesale firms (where TCF is relevant) met the deadline
41 per cent of directly authorised small firms met the deadline

Out of the small firms surveyed only 22 per cent of small mortgage advisers met the deadline.

The FSA stated that the above results reflected ‘progress made with TCF initiatives’ rather than whether firms were delivering fair outcomes in all cases for their customers. In practice this means that in some cases firms may not have met the deadline but may still be treating customers fairly, while in other cases firms may have met the deadline but still have work to complete in translating the initiative into practical outcomes for customers.

Firms that have missed or who suspect they have missed the March 2007 deadline were expected “to engage and make rapid progress with their work on TCF.”

Further TCF deadlines – March and December 2008

To encourage TCF momentum - and a move towards embedding of TCF into firms’ ‘business as usual’ culture - the FSA set further deadlines of:

end of March 2008 for firms to have appropriate management information (MI) or other measures in place to test whether they are treating their customers fairly - all firms should have reached this stage by now
end of December 2008 for all firms to be able to demonstrate to themselves and the FSA that they are consistently treating their customers fairly

Increased support for small firms

The FSA recognises that many small firms struggle with identifying and analysing MI in order to demonstrate TCF, and continues to provide the following support in this area:

sector specific TCF self assessment tools
focus on TCF as part of its programme of free roadshows and one-to-one 'surgeries'

To find out more about MI and TCF visit our MI Tips and Tools section.

To find out about roadshows and one-to-one surgeries follow the FSA links below.

The FSA also promises to work more closely with firms to develop and share good practice. For example, it published findings on TCF culture in July and on TCF and consumer outcomes in November 2007. You’ll find an overview from the July culture report in our related page TCF Indicators and links to the November report below.

FSA links

Find out about TCF roadshows (opens new window)
Download FSA report, Nov 2007 'Treating Customers Fairly: measuring outcomes' (PDF, 132K)
More about TCF deadlines and 2008 activity (opens new window)
Key TCF documents on the FSA website (opens new window)