Shaping better consumer outcomes

This report explores how the financial services sector can harness innovation to deliver better outcomes for consumers in line with the FCA’s Consumer Duty.

Produced through the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), a collaboration between FinTech Scotland, the University of Strathclyde, and the University of Glasgow, the report outlines a practical and forward-looking roadmap for industry-wide transformation.

The introduction of the Consumer Duty marks a shift from traditional compliance to a proactive, outcomes-based regulatory approach. This paper highlights how fintech innovation, data insights, and collaborative ecosystems can help financial institutions meet evolving regulatory expectations and rising consumer demands.

Key themes include:

• A changing regulatory and consumer landscape, with rising expectations for transparent, inclusive, and adaptive financial services.
• Challenges for financial institutions, such as legacy systems, siloed data, and fragmented compliance efforts.
• Opportunities for innovation, where fintechs play a crucial role in driving consumer understanding, supporting vulnerable customers, and automating compliance.
• A call for ecosystem-wide collaboration, moving beyond isolated efforts to create shared standards, interoperable systems, and seamless consumer experiences.

The report features insights from the FRIL Consumer Duty Innovation Call, showcasing fintech partnerships that are already delivering tangible improvements in customer support, communication clarity, and regulatory monitoring. It concludes with a multi-year roadmap outlining the necessary steps for embedding Consumer Duty principles across the financial ecosystem.