The FCA has unveiled a major overhaul of how investment products aimed at retail customers are regulated under the new Consumer Composite Investments regime.
For an intelligibility-focused firm like ours, which works with financial firms to make complex information clear, intelligible and genuinely useful, this is big news.
The CCI regime replaces the old, EU-inherited disclosure format (PRIIPs/UCITS templates). It replaces the rules with a new framework tailored to UK retail investors. Under the new rules, product-makers and distributors will need to deliver “product summaries” and “core information disclosures,” giving consumers clean, comparable, and relevant data on cost, risk, performance, and charges.
What this means for retail banking and consumer-facing firms
For banks, wealth platforms and other firms offering investment-linked products, the burden and complexity of disclosure falls under a fresh lens. The regime gives firms more flexibility in how they communicate, with less reliance on rigid templates. But on the flipside, it also adds greater responsibility to make information meaningful.
And this is where making sure they are more intelligible, and fully understood by consumers in a way that informs, and doesn't just confuse them, will be vital.
Amplifi’s unique approach of guiding clients to simplify their comms using our science-backed processes, and creating a strong audit trail as a result, will prove invaluable.
The FCA’s broader strategy suggests a clear intent to embed the Consumer Duty across a range of financial services, including retail banking and investments. The principle behind the Duty is simple: firms must act in customers’ best interests, communications must be transparent and lead to consumer understanding, and products must deliver fair value.
In practice, that means if a bank promotes an investment product to its current-account or savings customers, the accompanying information has to be intelligible. That means it must be easily understandable, not buried in legal jargon, and truly informative. Under the CCI rules, firms aren’t just ticking a regulatory box, they’re expected to treat disclosure as a core part of consumer support.
Why we welcome this, and what firms should do now
From our standpoint, this is a welcome milestone on the road to better consumer understanding. The old disclosure regime often overloaded investors with technical detail that few read or understood.
The new CCI rules, together with the Consumer Duty, shift the emphasis toward clarity, relevance, and customer needs. This plays directly into Amplifi’s sweetspot – helping clients to provide more intelligible communications, creating meaningful consumer understanding and a strong compliance pathway as a result.
For firms, the message is clear: don’t just comply. Communicate. Use the flexibility the FCA is offering to craft product information that works. That means meaningful and engaging summaries, clear explanations of costs and risks, and honest communication about value - not just burying disclaimers in lengthy PDFs.
Now is the moment for banks and investment platforms to step up and begin to prepare for the new regime. Those that embrace the spirit of the new rules, and make transparency a real priority, will likely earn more consumer trust.
And from where we sit, as advocates for simplicity and clarity, that’s exactly the kind of change we want to see.
If you’d like help to integrate the new framework into your business and communicate consumer investment opportunities with more clarity, get in touch for a free trial.
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