Vulnerable Customers

Our trainer, an expert in financial services and compliance, brings over 20 years of experience to Redcliffe’s Vulnerable Customer Training courses. He has a strong track record of delivering expert guidance on a range of compliance topics, including financial crime and regulatory matters.

Formerly the Head of Education for HSBC across the UK and Europe, he oversaw compliance training related to regulatory requirements and financial crime prevention. His tenure at HSBC was during a critical period of heightened regulatory scrutiny, including the bank’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement, where he played a key role in ensuring the organisation adhered to stringent compliance standards.

In addition to delivering Redcliffe’s Vulnerable Customer Training course programs, our trainer has held senior roles in compliance and risk management, including leading the Monitoring and Testing program for a UK Wealth Manager and serving as Senior Vice President for Global Risk & Compliance Training at a US-based bank. He also worked at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the expert on rules in the Training & Competence Handbook for the Insurance Firms Division.

His broad experience across both financial services and regulatory bodies provides him with a unique perspective on compliance, risk management, and vulnerable customer care, which informs his engaging and insightful vulnerable customer course.

Redcliffe’s vulnerable customers training course will teach you the following:

• Practical measures to help your firm deal with vulnerable customers confidently and effectively
• Understand the FCA’s expectations on how firms are expected to consistently serve vulnerable customers and organise themselves to do this.
• Recognising good practices and simultaneously avoiding poor practices.
• Recognise the linkages between the design and marketing of your products and services and how they relate to our vulnerable customer experience – in other words, joined-up thinking.
• How you should skill staff to recognise vulnerability.
• To highlight some of the discussion models available and other sources of industry best practice.
• Review your vulnerable customer procedures, determine if they are fit for purpose and deliver the right outcomes.
• Identify the regulatory developments around vulnerability from 2015 onwards to better contextualise actions required today.
• This vulnerable customer course also touches on the role of the Vulnerability Task Force and how their work supports firms.

• We are fully aware of how FCA expectations have evolved, along with best practices and mandatory updates, all of which are effectively reflected in our vulnerable customer course.
• Redcliffe Training has served clients of all shapes and sizes in the financial sector. We are fully aware of the obligations of a regulated firm and what is expected from them by the regulator.
• We have been delivering courses for over 20 years and are certain we deliver…. as well as anyone in the marketplace.
• Our expert trainer brings extensive experience as both a regulator and a trainer of regulatory requirements across wholesale and retail financial firms. He will share valuable insights from his past experiences to enhance the vulnerable customer training course, ensuring it is both practical and impactful.
• We do not use academics. All our trainers are highly experienced professionals with relevant vocational experience in real-world settings.
• The case studies included in this course will enhance your learning. They are often found to be essential in truly understanding the requirements and growing the skills to apply them.
• We are always judged by our results which speak for themselves, and previous feedback received from delegates has always been excellent.

• Dealing with vulnerable customers training is designed for those working in regulated firms. While much of the session references FCA rules; the underlying principles support effective customer support regardless of jurisdiction. First-line staff will gain value when they are dealing with clients directly or managing teams that have client interaction, overseeing the firm’s response to vulnerability, being involved in the design of training frameworks to address vulnerability responses or simply wishing to understand more
• Second- and third-line staff who are advising risk owners or evaluating systems and controls in place to meet vulnerability requirements, will also find this vulnerable customers training course valuable in ensuring appropriate coverage of their work

Vulnerability is an issue most people hope to avoid personally, but we all expect to receive appropriate care and support if we find ourselves in such a situation. Increasingly, companies are committing to support vulnerable customers in accordance with FCA guidelines, and this approach is being widely recognised as both necessary and responsible. Regulators are backing this shift, and there is a growing expectation that firms must do more to meet these responsibilities.

Vulnerable customer training courses are now an essential requirement for firms to ensure their staff are equipped to identify and support vulnerable individuals effectively. Companies must also structure their operations with a strong focus on fairness, prioritising the needs of vulnerable customers. Senior managers, in particular, should review their practices to understand potential risks for vulnerable clients and take appropriate steps to mitigate these risks where possible.

This comprehensive training course provides a thorough understanding of vulnerability, how to address it, and the steps needed to integrate these approaches into a practical and sustainable operating model.

With a clear focus on education and engagement, this vulnerable customer course encourages active participation throughout. Practical examples are used to reinforce key concepts, ensuring the learning is not just theoretical but directly applicable to real-world scenarios.