“It’s not fair!” is the universal cry of unhappy small children, teenagers and sometimes older individuals with a grievance or complaint.

So it will be interesting to see how the soon to be introduced ‘treating customers fairly’ initiative in the UK financial services industry works.

Deciding what is and isn’t fair can be a tricky business even at the best of times – as any parent knows and many an argument has shown.

TCF, as it is creatively known, is due to commence in March 2008 for financial advisers and firms, but there is still uncertainty over exactly what TCF means in practice.

This is mainly because the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has not issued detailed guidance on what is meant by TCF; instead, principles-based regulation is an order of the day.

The FSA has defined six customer outcomes to show what it wants TCF to achieve for customers, all of which seem fairly straightforward.

For example, where customers receive advice, it should be suitable and take account of their circumstances. And products should perform as expected, with acceptable service.

But it will be interesting to see the effects of TCF once the FSA starts monitoring the industry’s implementation.

Take one practical example; the treatment of pension savings invested in protected rights funds.

In the past, this happened when customers contracted out of the state pension scheme, in return for a rebate into their company or personal pension, which was held as protected rights.

Until now, this rebate had to be invested in an insurance company fund, but the government has said that in future, protected rights assets can be held in a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) outside insurance company funds.

This sounds fairly obscure, but it means that in the future, insurance companies could see £100 billion in assets moving out of their pension contracts, with a negative impact on their funds and presumably profits.

So what does TCF mean here? Should an insurance company write to its customers to inform them that they are able to move funds to cheaper or better-performing investments elsewhere? Or are investors expected to follow the ins and outs of pension regulation and make their own moves?

In this scenario, it seems that a life office could let its customers know what is happening under the spirit of TCF and risk losing assets, or do nothing and retain assets.

The next 12 months could see something of a panic among financial services companies as they realise exactly what TCF could mean to their businesses.

And financial services customers could have a powerful new weapon if they feel that something is not fair.

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