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As a provider of legal indemnity insurance, we’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and, as such, we have to be able to show that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of our business.

The FCA is responsible for regulating financial services firms. Part of this includes ensuring these firms comply with its Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) initiative. The FCA wants to make sure, for example, that customers can be confident that fair treatment of customers is central to a firm’s culture, that products are designed to fit their needs, and there are no barriers to them making complaints or claims.

Most companies will claim to prioritise customer care, but how many genuinely make this their priority? It was our aim from day one to offer the conveyancing profession an unrivalled legal indemnity service, and to provide policyholders with the best possible support if they need to make a claim against their policy. So, when we prepared for FCA regulation in 2005*, the TCF requirements reaffirmed our attitude towards service, rather than requiring us to change how we did things.

The principle behind Treating Customers Fairly is, for us, much more than something imposed on us by a regulator; it’s ingrained into our philosophy, and it will continue to be our first consideration in any decision we make. For instance, the FCA wants customers to receive clear information from a firm, which is why we’ve conducted regular training for our underwriters from the beginning, so that you’re always dealing with experienced legal indemnity specialists.

The FCA also insists that customers face no barriers when making complaints or claims. While we’re committed to providing the highest standards of service, we appreciate that there may be the odd occasion where our service doesn’t quite hit the mark. That’s why the details of how to make a complaint are in three separate locations on our website, as well as included with all our policy wordings. We never want anyone to feel dissatisfied with the service they’ve received, so we’ll always do our utmost to resolve a complaint (or even a grumble) quickly and to the satisfaction of our customers.

And when one of our policyholders needs to make a claim, we go above and beyond to provide them with the best possible service. We have an experienced, in-house claims team who will respond to every piece of correspondence within 24 hours, and will keep them informed at every step. But we also listen carefully to make sure we know what outcome the policyholder wants for their claim; sometimes we can achieve a better outcome by taking a different approach, such as the one we took in this edition's claims case study!

Our first consideration will always be our customers’ needs. But, if you think we can do better, or you have any suggestions how we might improve further, please let us know by calling 01603 617617 or emailing enquiries@cli.co.uk.