The FCA has published its Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23. The Report sets out the FCA’s progress and key achievements during the first year of implementing their three year strategy.
The report highlights what the FCA considers its accomplishments:
- Introducing the Consumer Duty: This initiative was carefully crafted to prioritise consumers, ensuring that companies place their needs and outcomes at the forefront of their operations, leaving no room for ambiguity.
- Combating Financial Crime: The FCA’s efforts to tackle financial crime involved fortifying the authorisation process, enhancing evaluations of regulated firms, and bolstering the investigative and prosecutorial capabilities of the FCA’s staff. As a result, they have reduced the risk of fraud and scams, taking numerous scam websites in the process.
- Nurturing Innovative Services: The FCA has collaborated with many newly authorised, high-growth potential firms. By proactively addressing any issues early on, it hopes to have facilitated their safe and secure growth, promoting innovation in the industry.
Other key points include:
- a 30% increase in the number of firms FCA has stopped from operating because of their failure to meet its minimum standards;
- a significant improvement in meeting or exceeding operating metrics – although still room to improve in some areas;
- 24 issued financial penalties;
- 158 intervention cases opened, and 51 cases using own initiative powers; and
- the Woodford redress package.