Ami launches Consumer Duty toolkit – Mortgage Strategy

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has launched a new Consumer Duty Toolkit for mortgage and insurance intermediaries.

AMI identified demand for more than regulatory guidance through its analysis and engagement with members.

It found that intermediaries want practical insight into how Consumer Duty can be applied, opportunities to learn from other firms and ways to build on the work they have already done.

The toolkit provides practical examples, insights and frameworks to help firms improve consumer outcomes and use Consumer Duty as a strategic tool for continuous business improvement.

It has been developed primarily for directly authorised firms, particularly smaller businesses that may have fewer internal compliance resources.

However, larger firms and networks will also be able to draw on its good-practice examples, insights and frameworks.

The toolkit includes a short refresher video covering the key principles and what they mean in practice as well as practical guides, videos and infographics covering areas including management information (MI), creating an MI dashboard, fair value, vulnerability, consumer understanding and evidencing good outcomes.

It will also provide member case studies and podcasts as well as complaints analysis and practical tools and frameworks.

Ami chief executive Stephanie Charman says: “Firms have put an enormous amount of work into implementing Consumer Duty, but it was never intended to be a one-off exercise. The challenge now is to make sure it becomes embedded in how businesses operate and continues to deliver better outcomes for customers.”

“Our members have told us they want practical support that goes beyond explaining what the rules say and helps them understand what good can look like in the real world. That is particularly important for smaller directly authorised firms, which may not have large compliance teams or the resources available to bigger businesses.”

“We have designed this toolkit to be genuinely useful. It brings together practical examples, case studies, guidance and tools that firms can use to challenge their existing thinking, learn from others and identify where they could strengthen their approach.”