Compass Principles: Guiding Excellence in Financial Services

This paper presents the Compass Principles developed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) as guidelines for the U.S. financial services industry. They affirm standards of excellence in the design and delivery of basic tools that people use to manage their daily financial lives. The paper articulates CFSI's vision that financial services offerings must be profitable and scalable from a business standpoint to offer lasting solutions for consumers. It states that the Compass Principles and their applications must be grounded in knowledge of consumer needs and demand, and the desire to meet those needs safely and responsibly over the long term. These principles are guided by profitability, scalability, deep customer knowledge, safety, variation and choice, relationships between consumers and providers as well as cross-sector participation. The four Compass Principles highlight the importance of:

• Embracing inclusion by responsibly expanding access;
• Building trust by developing mutually beneficial products that deliver clear and consistent value;
• Promoting success by driving positive consumer behavior through smart design and communication;
• Creating opportunity by providing options for upward mobility.