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PDCOB 4.3 General principles applicable to communications: additional requirements including comprehensibility, prominence and notification of changes

PDCOB 4.3.1R

1A firm must communicate information:

  1. (1)

    in the manner and form most likely to be comprehensible to a customer and in good time, having regard to their expected ability to comprehend information, including the abilities of customers with characteristics of vulnerability;

  2. (2)

    in English or in any other language agreed by the parties;

  3. (3)

    free of charge; and

  4. (4)

    prominently.

PDCOB 4.3.2R

1The requirement to communicate to the customer prominently includes ensuring that the communication is visible and that the communication is accessible to customers without requiring them to expand a window or text box.

PDCOB 4.3.3R

1A firm must notify a customer in good time about any material change to any information communicated to the customer which is relevant to a service that the firm is providing, or is proposing to provide, to that customer.

PDCOB 4.3.4G
  1. (1)

    1In determining what constitutes the provision of information ‘in good time’, a firm should take into account, having regard to the urgency of the situation, the customer’s need for sufficient time to read and understand the information before taking a decision.

  2. (2)

    A customer is likely to require more time to review information given on a complex or unfamiliar service, or a service a customer has no experience with, than a customer considering a simpler or more familiar service, or where the customer has relevant prior experience.

PDCOB 4.3.5G

1The rules in this sourcebook regarding communications to customers do not prescribe the exact wording or formatting of the communications. To comply with the customer’s best interests rule, Principle 12 and the rules in relation to general communications in this sourcebook, a firm should consider the information needs of, and seek to make general communications appropriate and comprehensible for, a customer in their target market, including:

  1. (1)

    what a customer needs in order to understand the relevance of any information provided by the firm;

  2. (2)

    the point at which information will be most useful to the customer to enable them to make an informed decision; and

  3. (3)

    the firm’s obligations under PRIN 2A.5.