FCA publishes 5 year strategy

The FCA has launched its much-trailed 5 year strategy. It will focus on 4 priorities:

• being a smarter regulator;
• supporting sustained economic growth;
• helping consumers to navigate their financial lives; and
• fighting financial crime.

Behind these general principles is a little more detail on how the FCA plans to do this, referring to some of the initiatives already reported and announcing some new ones. For example:

• no longer necessarily setting specific 2 year supervisory programmes for the largest firms, instead moving to less intensive supervision of those it can see are trying to do the right thing;
• providing all firms with better direct contact points;
• giving firms an earlier chance to make change before the FCA takes action;
• streamlining how it communicates its supervisory priorities;
• digitising the application process to make it easier and with less need for follow-up requests;
• ensuring it asks for data only when it needs and will use it;
• focussing on “rebalancing risk” for itself, firms and consumers – referring in passing to the fact that putting money in “safe” easy access accounts may not be best for consumers;
• reforming rules to boost the competitiveness of UK markets – mentioning in particular its plan to strip out redundant requirements in commercial insurance and asset management regulation, as well as reviewing the redress regime;
• driving better value for money in workplace pensions;
• focussing on fair value and competition in insurance markets – specifically the pure protection markets;
• reviewing rules with a view to allowing product innovation and wider access – not least reviewing mortgage affordability requirements, targeted support to allow consumers to make the most of their pensions where they don’t take financial advice, and reforming disclosure rules. It will rely on the Consumer Duty to underpin it all;
• prioritising the development of seamless account-to-account payments and progressing work on Variable Recurring Payments;
• putting Open Banking on a commercial footing and planning the roll out of Open Finance, which will prioritise small business lending and which the FCA plans to start putting in place by the end of 2027; and
• continuing to raise awareness of frauds and other financial crimes.