Achieving client protection, one step at a time.
The Client Protection Pathway consists of three steps that support financial service providers in their journey to implement a client-centric business model. There is no set timeframe to move forward on the Pathway. You do as you wish, working at your own pace. Cerise+SPTF provides the roadmap and works continuously to develop and refine the tools that can help you along the way.
Step 1: Commit to implement
Submit this sign-up form to formalize your commitment to implement client protection and be publicly listed here as a Committed Institution. The form walks you through signing our statement of commitment and submitting a client protection assessment.
All financial institutions are welcome to sign up for the Client Protection Pathway, regardless of model, size, maturity, status, or country.
The Client Protection Pathway sign-up form will ask you to agree to this statement:
“Our organization has reviewed the Client Protection Standards, and we commit to using them to improve our practices over time.”
The Client Protection Pathway sign-up form requires you to upload a recent client protection assessment (dated within the last two years) or to commit to submitting one within the next six months.
We accept the following assessments:
Tools on SPI Online:
- Code of Conduct Assessment (Cambodia, India, EU)
- Social Rating
- Client Protection Certification (completed in the last 3 years)
Note: Submitted documents must remain current for an organization to still be considered formally committed. After initial sign-up, when your most recent submitted assessment reaches 2 years of age (3 years for certifications), Cerise+SPTF will request an updated assessment. If none is provided within one year, you will be marked “Inactive” in our list of Committed Institutions.
Documents submitted to Cerise+SPTF are used only for verification purposes and will not be shared with external parties. However, interested parties who notice your organization on our public list of Committed Institutions may contact you directly asking to view your documents.
Step 2: Improve
Based on your assessment, identify the gaps in your client protection practices and prepare an action plan. Then, continuously improve your practices using Cerise+SPTF resources to support implementation.
Use this simple decision tree to help your organization decide how to jump into this step.
If not yet completed, conduct a comprehensive assessment of your practices and policies.
Review the results of your assessment with an honest, open mind — and without overstating the results. They are mainly intended to show where to improve.
Then, craft your action plan to address the real gaps in your client protection practices. Ultimately, this is the only way to truly serve clients better.
Once you have created an action plan based on your assessment results, use these free resources provided by Cerise+SPTF to support your improvement journey:
- Get practical, actionable guidance in assessing and improving every aspect of client protection from the SEPM Guide (see dimensions 3, 4 and 6, as well as 2.A.3, 2.B.2 and 5.C)
- Apply for co-funding of your upgrade projects through our Responsible Inclusive Finance Facilities (RIFF)
- Watch the CP Implementation Series webinars
- Get objective and external support from a qualified expert in our SEPM Pro Network
Step 3: Report
PLEASE NOTE: Cerise+SPTF recommends that the selection of third-party validators be undertaken carefully, with attention to the proposed providers’ reputation and their specific expertise in client protection. Please see Third-Party Validation.
A third-party validation is the independent audit of client protection systems and practices of a financial service provider, ideally measured against compliance with Cerise+SPTF’s “CP Full” tool.
While a financial service provider may have gone through a self-assessment or an accompanied assessment in Step 2, and worked on its gaps, a third-party validation will bring an objective and expert opinion of the organization’s compliance with the Client Protection Standards. The output of a third-party validation is a thorough report which documents the provider’s achievements and the remaining gaps and which can be shared with stakeholders.
Third-party validations should follow the framework recommended by Cerise+SPTF’s guidelines. [Link Pending]
The framework consists of the assessment of policies and practices described in the Client Protection Standards and their corresponding essential practices and indicators. Using the Client Protection Assessment Tool (CP Full –available on SPI Online) is a great way to prepare for such a validation.
The Client Protection framework defines subsets of minimum requirements.
- Entry-level indicators (n=33): These indicators address practice over policy, as well as key concerns for the sector, along the 8 standards.
- Progress-level indicators (n=21): These indicators are the minimum expected by asset owners and social investors.
- Advanced-level indicators (n=24): These indicators confirm practices with policies and processes, and mitigate the biggest risks to clients.
This is not the end of your journey!
- You want to keep up-to-date with all the latest developments, resources, webinars, and conferences → stay tuned through our newsletter and the SPI Online blog.
- Your organization is changing and hiring → keep your staff up-to-date with the Client Protection e-learning pathways [link] and Implementation Series.
- Your organization is working towards more digital operations → check out the most recent developments on the Digital Financial Standards working group.
- You want to engage with Social and Environmental Performance Management →discover the Universal Standards and conduct an SPI audit.
- You are interested in monitoring your clients’ outcomes → check out the most recent developments on the Outcomes working group.
- You like what we do, and you want to support us → become a member.
You are already certified and wonder what to do next?
This is not the end of your journey!
- You want to keep up-to-date with all the latest developments, resources, webinars, and conferences → stay tuned through our newsletter and the SPI Online blog.
- Your organization is changing and hiring → keep your staff up-to-date with the Client Protection Implementation Series.
- Your organization is working towards more digital operations → check out the most recent developments on the Digital Financial Standards working group.
- You want to engage with Social and Environmental Performance Management →discover the Universal Standards and conduct an SPI audit.
- You are interested in monitoring your clients’ outcomes → check out the most recent developments on the Outcomes working group.
- You like what we do, and you want to support us → become a member.
As you journey along the Client Protection Pathway, please remember:
- There are no deadlines. Cerise+SPTF provides the roadmap and the resources; you do as you wish, working at your own pace.
- All financial institutions are welcome to join, regardless of size, maturity, status, or country.
- All Cerise+SPTF tools are free of charge.