UK Financial Conduct Authority publishes findings of thematic review into firms' approaches to complaints and root cause analysis

The Financial Conduct Authority has published the findings of a thematic review into firms' approaches to complaints and root cause analysis. The FCA completed the thematic review to support effective embedding and implementation of the Consumer Duty. Overall, the FCA found that firms have established processes for carrying out root cause analysis of complaints, identifying trends and themes, and that most firms could evidence clear escalation routes and accountability.

The FCA has identified three areas for improvement:

• Analyzing data for different customer types — while complaints management information was captured, it was not always granular enough.
• Taking action based on this data — it was not always clear whether there had been appropriate discussion at decision-making forums about actions to be taken.
• Assessing and measuring the impact of actions taken — firms did not always measure the impact of actions and interventions to ensure they were effective.

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