Laura WilesSheldon Mills, Executive Director of Consumers and Competition at FCA, has delivered a speech at the CityUK Annual Conference on how innovation and regulation in financial services can drive the UK’s economic growth.
Speaking ahead of Royal Assent for the FSM Bill, which introduces a new secondary objective for regulators related to international competitiveness, Mills welcomed the codification of FCA’s role in promoting growth. The speech also emphasised the need to protect the integrity of UK markets, and FCA’s work in simplifying its listings regime, broadening access to LTAFs, and creating a reliable regime for ESG disclosures, labels and ratings.
On the importance of operational efficiency, Mills promised that FCA is tackling its authorisations backlog, and also currently trialling automated forms to speed up the process.
He also discussed how it will measure and be kept accountable for performance under the new secondary objective. In particular, FCA is creating a new Cost-Benefit Analysis panel, and will also soon publish its updated Rule-Review Framework. FCA awaits suggestions arising out of Treasury’s recent call for proposals on the metrics the regulators should publish in relation to their relevant objectives.