Within Standard Life group, the importance of putting the customer at the heart of what we do has long been part of our culture and practices and is actively championed by our executive and senior management.
We believe that the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles-based initiative by the Financial Service Authority (FSA) in the United Kingdom is complementary to our approach to all our customers. TCF requires us to assess and monitor our performance against our customer values in a robust way. To do this we have established a group TCF policy with standards that Standard Life group's UK Business Units1 must adhere to in relation to the six TCF outcomes.
Each Business Unit will develop and maintain measures, processes and structures that will ensure that appropriate information is made available to its senior management to enable such senior management to assess the Business Unit's adherence to the six FSA TCF outcomes. The senior management of each Business Unit will review on a regular basis the information supplied to it reporting on the Business Unit's adherence to the six FSA TCF outcomes. The senior management of each Business Unit will take such steps it considers necessary to address any perceived shortcomings in the Business Unit's adherence to the six FSA TCF outcomes.
Our approach to TCF can be evidenced in a number of areas including our Principles and Practices of Financial Management for our With Profits products & our Shaping our Future initiative.
1 TCF applies directly to Standard Life group UK retail customers, so our TCF policy applies specifically to the companies which deal with these customers, namely:
However the fair treatment of all customers of Standard Life group (Standard Life plc and its subsidiaries) makes sound business and commercial sense and, therefore, will be a significant driver in all our business operations, irrespective of their geographical location or customer base.
