Financial Services
Using Plain Numbers to help customers make informed decisions about their money.
Clearer numbers, smarter decisions, stronger trust
The FCA’s Consumer Duty is clear - financial services firms must do all they can to help customers understand the products and services they engage with.
It’s no longer enough to provide all the information; organisations must prove that customers can use it to make informed decisions.
Poor numeracy is a hidden vulnerability, affecting a significant portion of customers. When financial information isn’t clear, people struggle to understand key details like interest rates, loan terms, fees, and pension savings projections - leading to confusion, frustration, and poor decision-making.
The FCA recognises Plain Numbers as an example of best practice in achieving customer understanding.
The risk of poor communication
When financial information is unclear or overwhelming:
Customers misinterpret key details, leading to uninformed decisions.
Organisations experience higher complaint rates and customer dissatisfaction.
Trust in financial services erodes, impacting brand reputation and loyalty.
How Plain Numbers helps
Partnering with Plain Numbers ensures that financial services organisations:
Communicate complex financial information clearly and effectively.
Reduce customer confusion, making products and services easier to understand.
Build trust and engagement, leading to stronger customer relationships.
Proven impact
Our evidence-based method has been shown to double the number of customers who understand a communication – helping firms create fairer, more effective communication that benefits both businesses and consumers.
Numeracy as a vulnerability
The FCA were the first regulator to recognise numeracy as a customer vulnerability.
Poor numeracy affects around half of UK adults, and yet it is a vulnerability many organisations are unaware of.
Consumer vunerabilities
The FCA identified the main ‘consumer vulnerabilities’. Representing these as a proportion of the working-age population reveals the relative scale of each .
Consumer Duty
Failing to meet the Duty’s expectations on customer understanding can lead to regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage, and customer disengagement.
Financial Services firms that take customer understanding seriously will gain a competitive edge, strengthen customer relationships, and stay within regulatory requirements.
Guidance 8.34
“Millions of adults have poor or low levels of numeracy …we expect firms to take these characteristics into account and communicate information in as simple a way possible to support undertsanding for these customers.”
Guidance 8.13
“Recent work, such as by Plain Numbers, has demonstrated how seemingly small changes to communications can substantially increase comprehension among consumers.”
“I have had the absolute privilege of working alongside Plain Numbers for 6 months now and it has been the most enjoyable and pleasant third party relationship I've worked on. All the team have been amazing and the passion that is shared to embrace the Plain Numbers principles is really motivating.”
Consumer Understanding Manager, Nationwide
Financial Services organisations boosting customer understanding with Plain Numbers
We helped Nationwide help their customers easily understand the cost of borrowing.
“Plain Numbers gave us the tools required to simplify the process for personal loan customers looking to borrow more. ”