The FCA and the PRA have both published their business plans for 2018/2019.
The FCA’s business plan shines a spotlight on consumer protection, including in relation to pension products and high-cost credit, as an area of concern for the forthcoming year, as well as ongoing programmes such as Brexit, and firms’ culture and governance (including SM&CR), and financial crime. Other priorities mentioned include:
- reviewing retail banking business models
- reviewing firms’ use of data and publishing a Memorandum of Understanding with the ICO
- publishing new crowdfunding rules
- understanding firms’ pricing practices in retail general insurance
- improving competition in current accounts and cash savings markets
- assessing the risks of outsourcing and third-party providers
The PRA’s business plan notes the volume of work entailed in working towards an orderly withdrawal from the EU, and the fact that their approach is based on a presumption that there will continue to be a high degree of supervisory cooperation between the UK and EU. It also indicated that operational resilience, in particular in the context of cyber security and advances in payment services and open banking, will be an area of development later this year.