Consumer duty turns three this month. Three years in, "we're working on it" stops being an excuse, and the FCA's tone has shifted from patient to pointed.

So we're kicking off our Q3 edition, The Trust Reset, with a four-part teardown series where we run real financial services journeys through the wringer and ask a simple question; is this actually fair, or does it just tick a box?

In this opener, the full team's back together to set the scene. We get into what's really changed since 2022, why "we don't sell to consumers" is a dangerous thing for a firm to believe, and how much of consumer duty comes down to accessibility and sludge.

We also lift the lid on UXDuty, the tool we built in-house to scan digital channels against the PRIN 2A rules and surface the friction firms would rather you didn't notice.

Next week we start the teardowns proper with bank switching, a big provider, a mid-tier one, and a challenger, side by side.

What we cover:

Why year three of consumer duty is the year the excuses run out
Distribution chains, and why more firms are in scope than think they are
Accessibility as good practice, not a compliance chore
Whether AI fixes digital channels or quietly makes them worse
UX Duty: how we scan journeys for sludge and evidence board reports
Jargon buster: escrow, explained

New episode every Friday. Fin the Week is the financial technology and marketing briefing from Indulge, a digital agency for financial services.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Personal Updates

00:55 What's coming up in Q3?

06:09 What was the industry reaction to Consumer Duty?

11:36 Consumer Duty in 2026

13:47 Understanding the distribution chain for Consumer Duty

22:16 Consumer Duty is about making something that's better for everyone

26:22 Explaining what UXDuty is

35:33 Introducing the Consumer Duty teardown process

39:20 Jargon Busters!