Consumer duty  

Target markets tool take-up amid consumer duty push

But Jones added the tool was not in place simply to allow advisers to pigeonhole clients.

He explained: "It is not about making the adviser create lots of target markets, but about supporting different ways of servicing different people."

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Prod rules

Earlier this year, Dynamic Planner's chief executive Ben Goss told FTAdviser that Prod was the 'key' to understanding and complying with the consumer duty rules. 

The Product Intervention and Product Governance source book (Prod) rules, which came into force in 2018 alongside other European Union-led Mifid II directives, means that companies now have to ensure that any investment products recommended to clients do the following: 

  • Fulfil the needs of one or more identified target markets
  • Are distributed appropriately
  • Deliver appropriate client outcomes.

At the time, he said: "While the regulator has posed the challenge of consumer duty, it has also provided the answer - Prod regulation and understanding how to target markets."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com