The FCA has set out its marketing strategy for 2024/25, promising to proceed to give attention to stopping severe hurt to customers, setting greater requirements and selling competitors.
It’s the ultimate yr of the regulator’s three-year technique to realize higher outcomes for customers and markets.
The FCA mentioned it would proceed to ship the 13 commitments in its technique, which focuses on stopping severe hurt, setting greater requirements and selling competitors.
Particular points it would prioritise embrace:
- Defending customers by testing if companies are assembly the excessive requirements set by the Client Obligation, supporting individuals’s long-term monetary wellbeing by means of the Recommendation Steerage Boundary Evaluation and ensuring pension merchandise ship worth for cash.
- Contributing to UK competitiveness and progress by bettering the attractiveness and attain of UK wholesale markets, supporting companies to take a position, innovate and develop by means of its innovation companies and persevering with to make it faster and simpler for companies to use for authorisation.
- Constructing on progress already made to change into a world-class data-led regulator by automating extra of its analytics instruments to assist detect and reply to shopper harms sooner and dealing with companies on the protected deployment of synthetic intelligence.
The deliberate programme builds on the progress remodeled current years to change into a extra outcomes-based, assertive and data-led regulator, the FCA mentioned.
Nikhil Rathi, chief government of the FCA, mentioned: “We’ve already made important progress in delivering towards the imaginative and prescient we set out in our technique two years in the past, together with the introduction of the Client Obligation and proposing reforms to wholesale market regulation and the itemizing regime in a long time.
“We stay resolute in supporting the important function the monetary sector performs within the UK’s long-term financial progress, embracing the potential advantages that know-how presents each for us and the companies we regulate, whereas additionally persevering with to guard customers and guarantee market integrity.”
He mentioned the introduction of the Client Obligation set greater and clearer requirements of shopper safety and has already led to companies making adjustments to financial savings charges and charges.
The FCA mentioned it was making higher use of knowledge to identify and cease hurt sooner and is being more durable on the companies that would trigger hurt.
It eliminated greater than 10,000 doubtlessly deceptive adverts in 2023 and despatched out 2,243 warnings about unauthorised companies and people. It additionally greater than doubled the variety of agency permissions cancelled, in comparison with the earlier yr, for failing to fulfill its minimal requirements.
It has tailored its guidelines and improved its processes to make sure the UK stays a lovely place to take a position. That features proposing a package deal of reforms to the itemizing regime to encourage a higher vary of firms to listing within the UK and compete on the worldwide stage.
David Brooks, head of coverage at unbiased consultancy Broadstone, mentioned: “The FCA’s focus is sort of rightly on outcomes for savers and making certain they get good worth from their monetary companies suppliers.
“We’re actually happy to see scrutiny on attacking the scourge of rogue advisers and adverts which mislead and rip-off individuals out of their hard-earned pensions financial savings. The trustees that we work with need their members to have the ability to enter the world of economic recommendation with confidence when getting ready for his or her futures and that these professionals will give them the very best care.”
• Learn the FCA Enterprise Plan 2024/25
