Fairer Finance has partnered with behavioural design consultancy Sideways to develop a new Consumer Duty accreditation scheme and AI-powered tools aimed at helping financial services firms identify weaknesses in customer trust.
The partnership will combine Fairer Finance’s consumer research, ratings and regulatory expertise with Sideways’ work in behavioural design to help banks, insurers and lenders assess how their products, communications and internal processes affect customer confidence.
Central to the agreement is a new accreditation framework intended to provide an independent assessment of how financial services businesses meet their obligations under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty.
Unlike Fairer Finance’s existing Customer Experience and Product ratings, which assess businesses externally, the accreditation process will involve detailed examinations conducted with the participating firms.
Assessments will cover governance arrangements, management information, fair value assessments, complaints trends and other internal data. The accreditation is intended to give firms an additional means of demonstrating their approach to regulatory compliance and customer outcomes.
AI TOOL TO IDENTIFY TRUST RISKS
The two businesses are also introducing an AI-powered diagnostic tool designed to identify potential problems in customer communications and interactions before they develop into complaints or regulatory concerns.
Developed by Sideways co-founder Andrew Beckley, the tool assesses customer-facing material against the consultancy’s Seven Trust Signals framework, identifying patterns that could undermine confidence.
The approach is intended to provide ongoing assessments rather than relying exclusively on periodic reviews or retrospective customer satisfaction data.
James Daley, managing director of Fairer Finance, said: “Every company knows the importance of trust. It is at the core of customer retention. But even with the best intentions, it can often be hard to see where it is leaking out, and how to fix it quickly.
“In a world where AI begins to change the way consumers buy financial services products, there will be fewer places for firms to hide if they are delivering poor experiences at key customer moments.
“Our partnership with Sideways allows us to diagnose and fix problems quicker – and then reflect the real customer experience back to prospective customers through our new accreditation scheme. We want that to be something meaningful that is hard won and a genuine mark of quality.”
FOCUS ON PRODUCT DESIGN AND CUSTOMER OUTCOMES
The agreement also covers consultancy work aimed at helping financial services businesses incorporate considerations of trust into product development and customer journeys.
Fairer Finance brings 12 years of consumer research and market ratings to the partnership, alongside its experience of working with financial services firms on customer outcomes and its engagement with regulators and industry bodies.
Sideways was co-founded by Daljit Singh, who previously built ANNA Money to more than 100,000 customers, and Nicolas Roope, who led Poke’s UBS rebrand with Publicis following the financial crisis. Fellow co-founder Beckley has 24 years of financial services experience.
Singh said: “Most organisations don’t mean to break trust. Their systems do it for them. Fairer Finance can tell a firm what customers believe about its culture, and can then identify the strengths and weaknesses in their products and governance.
“We can tell them why trust is breaking down, and what to do about it. Together that’s a much harder thing to argue with.”
The partnership will also examine how changing consumer behaviour and the increasing use of AI in financial services could affect the design, distribution and purchase of financial products.
The firms intend to work with financial services providers to develop products and services that address potential problems during the design process, rather than relying solely on subsequent testing and customer feedback.
Singh added: “The pace of change means firms can’t wait for trust problems to show up in the data. Together we can help them get better ideas to market quickly, with trust designed in from the first decision.”
