The safe design, maintenance and risk management of products are some of the most important topics of 21^st century regulation. The UK has had various product governance guidance since 2001 and what is effectively a rulebook (RPPD) since 2007. The EU has taken many of the UK’s ideas and adopted them in Directives on insurance and investments. On 31 July 2023, the FCA will effectively impose the key concepts from those directives and some ideas of its own across the spectrum of retail products that it regulates. For most UK Finance members, the focus needs to be on the structures required to make product governance work and the key activities of identifying target markets, product testing, ensuring that products provide value for money, managing internal and external distribution and spotting and reacting to events that pose risks to their products.

The objectives of the course are to make participants comfortable with the Consumer Duty provisions on the product and value outcomes and their application to both manufacturers and distributors of products and understand the structures and attitudes required to maintain safe development and continuity in their product offerings. We will also look at some areas where the FCA has intervened in product governance to force companies to change what they offer.

The value this workshop brings is a sound knowledge of the new consumer outcomes relevant to product governance and their application to mortgages, deposits and consumer credit, an appreciation of the regulators’ powers and activities in this area and an ability to see product governance from the perspective of both manufacturer and distributor.

The training approach will be interactive with the use of case studies and examples and be geared towards the sharing of best practice between the participants.