Financial regulation is changing
The FCA’s Consumer Duty is changing how we think about inclusivity
Nile is here to help you build your inclusive design capability
The days of ‘tickbox inclusivity’ are over
The FCA’s new Consumer Duty comes into force in July 2023, bringing previous guidelines around vulnerable customers into regulatory enforcement.
It effectively mandates the use of inclusive design across every customer touchpoint with a financial service provider. This will be a significant challenge for many FS organisations – but Nile is helping teams find the path to progress.
Where Nile has had an impact
In anticipation of the new duty, we have been working in partnership with our clients to explore what serving vulnerable customers really means.
The changes, for many, are seismic. Shifting to a culture of inclusive design isn’t the sole responsibility of one team – it’s everywhere, all at once.
In the last 18 months we’ve helped teams on their inclusivity journey by building design and research toolkits, publishing archetypes for inclusive design, and creating new frameworks and guidelines for their organisations.
A growing body of research tells us that there’s a solid business case for making your services more inclusive. In its simplest terms, your customer pool will increase. Also, when it comes to meeting regulatory guidelines, research shows that the cost of non-compliance can be three times higher than that of complying.
At Nile, we work with organisations that care passionately about helping customers. We’ve been working in the field of inclusive design since 2006 and the challenge we tend to encounter is not a lack of empathy, but instead an overwhelming sense of not knowing the best course of action.
Through our inclusive by default runway, we will help you prioritise and set a direction for being compliant with consumer duty by July 2023.
This is incredibly rich material, it creates a fascinating bridge into the Consumer Duty… this is extremely innovative and thought provoking not to mention beneficial for other firms to see… I doubt if anyone in the room is as advanced in their thinking as you are.Money Advice Trust, reviewing practical client work
Lean on our expertise
How Nile can help
Benchmark your organisation
Implementing inclusive design begins with benchmarking what your organisation is currently doing. How are you addressing the needs of vulnerable customers? We’ll examine your frameworks which may already be in place, understand where colleagues struggle, and explore your organisation’s biggest challenges in this area.
Lay your data foundations
We’ll then build your data foundation. Conducting research with customers in broad vulnerable groups, we’ll learn about how vulnerable customers feel you serve them and what they find lacking.
Build your toolkit
After that comes the brickwork: understanding vulnerabilities is important, but it’s what you do about it that matters. Together, we’ll build a bespoke toolkit. If there are previously established toolkits, we’ll streamline these and create a structure so that everyone knows how, when, and why they are used. We’ll also add tools to that kit to ensure that you are compliant with the new Consumer Duty regulations.
Build your culture
Then we’ll focus on communication. Spreading the word through your organisation is key. Everyone needs to understand the work, how it effects them in their role and how to implement it. When embedding cultural change within your organisation you can’t rely on information or processes alone – you need people. By spreading the word of our work, we will create champions and, ultimately, build a strong inclusivity culture across all levels.
Our latest writing on the FCA’s New Consumer Duty
I have to say I’m blown away… The Framework really articulates the journey to get there as well as being incredibly helpful and practical in terms of use.Senior Manager Customer Outcomes, Tesco Bank
Get in touch
If you’d like to become an organisation that is inclusive by default, get in touch with us and we can book a tailored diagnostic session with you and your team.
Reach out to Robyn
Our Inclusive by Default Team
Head of New Business
Robyn Johnston
Robyn chose a career in design after studying at some the top global design universities, majoring in Strategic Product Design. She’s delivered Human Centred Change for NatWest, Shawbrook, and Tesco Bank. An adventure seeker, she’s lived in Italy, Finland, and the US and represented Scotland in Equine sports.
Head of Research
Dr Alexa Haynes
Alexa directs our insight team and partners, making sure our techniques and tools align to industry best practice whilst pushing the boundaries of what’s possible by exploring new technologies and data pools
Senior Service Designer
Louise Mushet
Louise is a senior service designer who is passionate about using her skills for good. She’s a whizz at driving design research, translating insights into opportunities, and bringing people and ideas together through skilful facilitation.
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Nile is a strategic design firm. We help changemakers make bold moves and break new ground, grounded in insight, psychology, and design.