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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out its plans for the next year, as industry prepares itself for several key regulatory overhauls, including the Consumer Duty.
Entering the second year of its current three-year strategy, the FCA has announced plans to accelerate four areas of its work over the next 12 months, through further investment and increased resources.
These four areas include: consumer protection; financial crime prevention; future-proofing financial services; and strengthening the UK’s position in global wholesale markets.
“We set out a bold vision last year of what we wanted the FCA to be, and we are well underway to achieving our objectives thanks to our talented colleagues and better use of technology and data across our organisation,” said Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA.
“With many consumers across the UK struggling with the cost of living and market events causing concern, we have put in place vital changes over the past few years which mean we are better set up to face these challenges.”
Among the objectives raised in its business plan, the FCA said that it will be “bolstering” resources to ensure that the Consumer Duty is “embedded effectively within firms and central to their technology”.
Alongside the Consumer Duty, the regulator has also said that it is planning to allocate additional staff dedicated to working with firms as they support consumers struggling with higher costs of living.
The FCA also confirmed that it will continue to invest in technologies that can be used to gain intelligence to disrupt financial criminals and prevent harm to consumers.
The FCA will also boost its efforts to proactively identify those intent on committing financial crime both within its regulatory perimeter and on the outside of that perimeter.
The watchdog has also said that it will build further covert capabilities into its systems to identify and disrupt fraudsters, while investing in raising standards in authorised firms and improving their ability to detect and prevent financial crime.
This includes a strengthened gateway for obtaining licences, more proactive assessments of regulated firms and more staff focused on investigating and prosecuting offenders.
In anticipation of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Edinburgh Reforms, as well as the Financial Services and Markets Bill, the FCA said it will be investing in additional skills to enable it to deliver on, and make changes to, the systems and procedures needed for the relevant firms, as well as the necessary changes to systems and procedures for the firms that fall within the scope of the Treasury proposals.
