Knowledge Bank launches Consumer Duty tool for brokers

Knowledge Bank has launched a new tool to help lenders and brokers meet the FCA's new Consumer Duty regulations.

The tool will help with the early identification of borrower vulnerability and will highlight underserved areas within lending policy and the wider market.

The areas of lending relevant to Consumer Duty will be identified to brokers alerting them to the fact that additional questions or care may be needed with the case. This will also be highlighted on the brokers 'evidence of research’ document as a part of their compliance file. The same will be true for sales and underwriting teams who use Knowledge Bank’s KB PRO tool.

Lenders using Knowledge Bank’s 'Insights’ tool will also have the facility to interrogate the data to see the prevalence and frequency of searches in these categories and maintain a record of their responses, giving a view of underserved areas of the market in relation to Consumer Duty.

Nicola Firth, CEO of Knowledge Bank, said: “One of the most challenging aspects of Consumer Duty is identifying instances of vulnerability as this is open to a certain degree of interpretation and is not confined to a particular group or type of borrower. Any borrower could potentially fall into the category of being ‘vulnerable’ and this tool will help filter results and expose the transient nature of vulnerability due to life events.

“Because of the unique way in which Knowledge Bank handles lenders' policy we are able to denote which of these may indicate a vulnerable situation for the customer which is either permanent or temporary. Using this information, lenders and brokers can consider their appropriate response to meet the standards required.

“We have worked closely with our lender, network and mortgage club partners to really understand what tools they need to ensure that the new rules are made as easy as possible to navigate. The clock is ticking on Consumer Duty coming into force and so we have worked hard to have the tools in place now so that both brokers and lenders are well served and provided for. This early delivery also allows lenders especially to hit the end of April deadline to have in place what they need ready for July.”