Nausicaa Delfas has spoken on FCA’s national and international response to Covid-19 and Brexit.
On Covid-19, she noted:
- FCA’s priority to keep markets open and orderly, help firms continue to operate, protect consumers and small businesses and maintain high standards of conduct;
- that FCA’s Business Plan focuses on ensuring fair treatment and protection for hte vulnerable while tackling scams, keeping markets working and mitigating firm failures;
- FCA has built a number of “financial bridges” for consumers and small businesses while providing some regulatory flexibility for firms;
- FCA has taken measures to address concerns, such as the recent Dear CEO letter on equity finance business;
- the importance of senior management and continued compliance with the SMCR;
- international work, particularly with the US on measures both the UK and US have taken, and work no the potential implications for the LIBOR transition; and
- FCA’s work with the ESAs and national EU authorities within the new parameters of the Withdrawal Agreement.
On Brexit, she said:
- FCA continues to prepare for all scenarios;
- the transitional regimes for the TPR for incoming firms are all in place and will allow overseas firms continued access, but sadly the same cannot be said for the position of UK firms in other EU jurisdictions, who are at the mercy of national measures many of which are no longer in force – so UK firms must beware;
- there has been significant work on onshoring legislation and rules, and FCA will use its Temporary Transitional Power so that firms generally need not prepare to meet the changes that result from onshoring until 31 March 2022;
- the equivalence discussions continue, with the Government calling for an “outcomes basis”, and the UK of course being the most equivalent of all third countries on “day one” – but not all issues can be dealt with by equivalence, such as broader contract continuity issues and the continued provision of retail financial services by UK firms to EU consumers; and
- firms need to be considering what actions they may need to take, and how their customers will be affected.