"As with the entire MARS system, we plan to develop this further over time to best meet the needs of protection advisers and their clients to help ensure they can always comply with Consumer Duty."
- Andrew Gething, MorganAsh managing director
MorganAsh’s most recent updates mean firms can now identify how vulnerable clients are to the potential risk of coercion as well as susceptibility to scams, with results contributing towards their overall Resilience Rating.
Furthermore, since Consumer Duty now requires all firms to report on protected characteristics, the MARS system has also gained additional consumer protected characteristics to help advisers with diversity reporting. This will allow firms to report diversity with ease.
Commenting on the system updates, Andrew Gething, MorganAsh managing director, has said:
“We are really pleased to introduce yet more valuable upgrades for MARS, our comprehensive vulnerability tool.
“The updates draw on both user feedback and the FCA’s final guidelines for Consumer Duty, giving firms a reliable system to not only meet the demands of regulators but best protect the vulnerabilities of their customers.
“Coercion of vulnerable people is of increasing concern, especially as scams become more sophisticated and more frequent. These updates to MARS enable firms to manage and monitor that vulnerability risk, all while showing a clear and consistent compliance approach with the ‘Resilience Rating’ – much like a credit score.”
By the end of October, all firms must have their implementation plans agreed upon by their boards. Then, firms must ensure all products in open books comply by July 2023, and all those in closed books by July 2024.
