The Financial Services Duty of Care Bill was reintroduced to Parliament on 9 January 2020. The introduction of a new, general duty of care, has been in the pipeline for some time, see our 2018 article, The FCA Opens Up a Discussion on Introducing a New Duty of Care.
The Bill requires the FCA to make rules for authorised persons to owe a duty of care to consumers in their regulated activities. Reintroduction of the Bill demonstrates continued political pressure to create a general duty of care, in circumstances where the FCA itself has adopted a very cautious approach to such a duty, and where, in response to its 2018 discussion paper, much of the industry did not support it. We can expect to see further consultation on this issue in 2020.