The FCA has set out more developed proposals for rules to tackle the causes of harmful practices within financial services in a consultation.
The plans will ensure a "higher and more consistent standard of consumer protection" within financial services, it said, and help to prevent harm before it takes place.
According to the regulator, the consultation takes on board "feedback and engagement" with industry and consumer groups following initial proposals that were published in May 2021.
The new rules, it added, will require companies to focus on supporting and empowering their customers to make good financial decisions and avoid "foreseeable harm".
Customers are to be provided with easy-to-understand information by their financial services providers, and be offered products and services that are fit for purpose.
The FCA said it will "use assertive supervision and its new data led approach to intervene quickly when it identifies practices which do not deliver for consumers".
The consultation is open until 15 February 2022 and the FCA said it expects to confirm any final rules by the end of July 2022.
In addition to the consultation, the regulator has published draft guidance to help firms prepare for the introduction of the new duty.
Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA, said: "Making good financial decisions is vital to financial well-being and trust, but too often consumers are not given the information they need to make good decisions and are sold products or services that do not offer the benefits they might expect. We want to change that.
"We have been working to set a higher standard for firms, to put more of the onus on them to act in their customers' interests and get their products and services right. The new duty will drive a change in culture at firms. We expect firms to step up and put consumers at the heart of what they do and we'll be holding senior managers accountable if they do not."
