TCF Info News - Autumn 2007

MI follow-up survey results confirms value of TCF Info MI pages

Many thanks to all of you who took part in our follow-up Management Information (MI) survey in the lead-up to the 31 March MI deadline. We’re delighted to report that the results showed a sharp rise in intermediary confidence in how to set up and use TCF MI since our autumn survey- in particular for those who had read our TCF Info MI pages. Key findings were as follows:

Setting up and using MI

• 75 per cent of respondents said they knew what they needed to do to set up and use TCF MI – up from 47 per cent in September
• those who were unsure about what they needed to do had halved from 40 per cent to 20 per cent
• just three per cent of respondents said they didn’t know what they needed to do - down from 13 per cent in September
• of those who were confident about what they needed to do, over 90 per cent had read or reviewed the TCF Info MI pages containing tips, tools, checklists and case studies relating to TCF MI
• the above figure dropped to 46 per cent for those who said they were unsure or didn’t understand what they needed to do

TCF info MI guidance

• almost half of respondents felt the TCF Info website proved very useful in telling them what they needed to know about TCF MI
• a fifth felt they would benefit from more information on how to produce effective written reports into MI findings

MI from product providers

• 60 per cent of respondents felt that data from providers on product performance and customer behaviour post-sale would provide useful TCF MI to help ascertain suitability or otherwise of original sale or advice
• of the above 40 per cent wanted to know about PPI relapses and 30 per cent about remortgages

Monetary cost of implementing TCF

• most intermediaries said that the cost of implementing TCF hadn’t been an issue
• almost half said it had been manageable and a further 28 per cent said it had been low - just under nine per cent felt it had been significant

If you’re new to TCF Info – or are still unsure about what you should be doing – visit our TCF MI Tips and Tools pages to get more information on MI. These pages have been of invaluable help to many of our readers. And remember, with the March deadline for implementing TCF MI now passed the FSA is starting to carry out telephone assessments and visits to check for MI progress.

Survey winner

Congratulations to Jeffrey Harrison from Belfast who won a new Ipod Nano

Updated MI Checklist allows progress tracking

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve substantially updated our already popular TCF MI Checklist. Each section of the checklist now includes an adapted download version with extra columns to enable you to record targets and track performance/corrective action against these.

Self-Audit Principles Checklist provides high level MI

Remember that TCF doesn’t end once deadlines for embedding are met – it must become integral to your firm’s culture. With this in mind we’ve created a TCF Principles Self-Audit Checklist to complement our TCF Principles Checklist. Regular review and completion of the Self-Audit Checklist (for example, quarterly) will enable you to keep checks and balances in place to alert you if your TCF plan is failing to stay on track. The reports themselves will also provide important written evidence for the FSA that you are monitoring and acting on MI.

‘TCF Info at a glance’ offers quick site guide

As our site has grown, the many choices on offer may seem daunting to a new or infrequent visitor. With this in mind we’ve added a new page TCF Info at a glance. This offers a no-nonsense overview of what you’ll find where on our website, and the best place to start if you’re coming to TCF Info for the very first time.

Further recent MI additions

In case you missed our January content alert, we’ve also added a TCF MI Sales/advice Case Example and a page containing quick links to MI resources across the site. Follow the links to read the detail.