After two years which tested everyone's version of what ?normal good conduct? means, we are mostly returning to more conventional ways of working. For the UK's financial regulators, the return to something more like business as usual means a revisit to the themes of Conduct and Culture.  In 2022 specifically, this means including an assessment of firms? culture as part of the checks on everyday conduct of business.

Though we need not be anxious that culture will suddenly be subjected to an intense new scrutiny, some aspects of financial firms? business certainly now attract more of the regulator's attention. Some of these we?ve revisited specifically through the Covid-19 experience. These include how to identify and support vulnerable customers, and how to show you handle complaints properly, avoiding social harms. On the broader view, there is the emerging question of how to put into practice your firm's ?new Consumer Duty? - how this fits with your framework for Good Conduct, and how far it helps to see any of this through the lens of the regulator's past guidance (Treating Customers Fairly) or more recent analysis (Messages from the Engine Room).

Meanwhile, there's the much-discussed launch of a Sixth Conduct Question examining diversity and inclusion (D and I). The question is likely to include a fresh take on how to apply and assess ?D and I? in practice, drawing on recent behavioural research. For example, we should expect and prepare to frame this assessment both in familiar terms (?protected characteristics?) and new ones (how far ?cognitive diversity? and ?psychological safety? are found in your firm).

If you?re newly appointed to a manage or support a Conduct or Culture team, now is the perfect moment to catch up on what topics the regulator really expects you to know about, as well as how you should define and describe your responsibilities as you engage with internal and external audiences. It may be, of course, that you?ve been in a conduct or Culture role for a while; in which case it's also time to refresh and revisit any assumptions about what topics matter most. Whatever your Conduct or Culture brief, as we emerge into new post-pandemic patterns or working, be aware that the Conduct agenda has moved on. Emerging into the new normal, it's timely to refresh your understanding of what really counts, to those whose job is to check how your firm behaves.

Register for "Conduct and culture programme: Conduct framework - right first time" here