Training Courses

Financial Services - Retail Client Services and Complaints Handling

Category: Client Services

Course level: Introductory to Intermediate

In house

This one-day course is designed to develop the product knowledge of the client services team and build up the confidence to answer client questions and handle complaints more effectively.

At the end of the course delegates should have developed a sufficient understanding of the firm’s products and strategies to be able to question their investment team and apply this in their client-facing role.

No prior knowledge is assumed.

Examples of the firm’s products will be used throughout for group discussions.

Objectives

By the end of the course, delegates will have a better understanding of:

  • their firm’s product range
  • the basic principles of fund pricing
  • performance measurement and benchmarking
  • what constitutes an eligible complaint
  • what constitutes a material complaint
  • FSA regulations and guidance including TCF initiative

Length

1 day

Course Content

Open-ended funds

Principles of open-ended funds
Types of open-ended funds
    Unit trusts, ICVCs, OEICs, SICAVs
Role of the trustee/depositary
Function of the Trust Deed/Prospectus – key information required
Case study: Review of firm’s Key Features document/Prospectus and fund fact sheet

Unit/share classes

Income vs accumulation
Net vs gross
Institutional vs retail
    Different charging structures
Currency classes
Case study: Review firm’s open-ended fund range

Fund distribution

IFAs, discount brokers, tied sales team
Broker funds, fund supermarkets, white labelling
    Charges
    Initial fee
    Annual management charge
Other fees and Total Expense Ratio (TER) – new UCITS II rules

Pricing and daily valuations

Calculating the NAV
Calculating the unit price
Dual vs single pricing
Dilution levy vs swinging mid price
Switching fees
Case study: Review of firm’s fund prices
 

Regulations for open-ended funds

FSA investment and borrowing restrictions
Recent developments
    UCITS II and III,
    Mixed funds, guaranteed funds, Limited Issue Funds
    Performance related feed
    New investment limits

ISAs and PEPs

Current ISA rules
Changes to rules post April 2007
Case study: Review of the firm’s products, ISA and other wrapper products from the website and see what marketing strategy is used with clients

Performance

Benchmarking (fund performance vs an index or sector average)
Using S&P or Lipper data
Case study: Performance review of one of the firm’s funds

Complaints

What is a complaint?
Eligible complaints
Ineligible complaints

Definitions

Material complaints
    Financial loss
    Material distress
    Material inconvenience
Non-material complaints
 
Statutory guidelines

Written acknowledged procedures and deadlines
Final response procedures and necessary enclosures
Review workflow for material and non material complaints
Case study: We look at several examples of complaints drawn from real occasions and experiences and ask the group to categorise them, outlining the appropriate response and procedures

Treating Customers Fairly

What is TCF?
How are firms responding to the initiative?
Examples of how TCF should be embedded in our approach to client services

This course would be suitable for:

  • Client services and call centres
  • HR and training
  • Investment administration and operations
  • Legal & Compliance
  • New entrants
  • Sales and marketing
Contact Us