Financial Lives of consumers across
the UK – our new report
We are
committed to serving the public interest by improving how financial markets
function and how firms conduct their business. Financial products and services
play a fundamental role in individuals’ lives. To make sure that consumers
enjoy an appropriate level of protection, we need to understand consumers’
needs and experiences of financial services.
This is why
we set up the Financial Lives Survey, a large-scale survey of UK adults. It
adds a substantial new source of evidence to our understanding of consumers in
the retail financial markets we regulate: about the products they buy, their
experiences of financial services providers, their financial situations and
their attitudes towards managing their money.
Last
October we published our initial report, ‘Understanding the financial lives of
UK adults’,
which analysed
results primarily by age.
Our
latest report analyses the data geographically. This report provides a
unique perspective of the survey results across the 4 nations of the UK, the 9 regions
of England, and by rural and urban areas.
As a
UK-wide regulator, we serve consumers wherever they live in the UK, and we want
to understand how people in different areas experience and respond to financial
services and how their experiences may differ.
There is a
wealth of information in this report and the accompanying data set and I encourage industry and others
to use it.
I hope you
find this latest report interesting and that it stimulates further research and
discussion.
Claims management consultation
is open
On 5 June, we published our proposals outlining
how we will regulate claims management companies (CMCs) when regulation passes
to the FCA on 1 April 2019. Our aim is that CMCs are trusted providers of high
quality, good value services that help customers
pursue legitimate claims for redress.
The proposals outlined in our consultation are
integral to achieving that aim, and include:
- requiring CMCs to provide to potential customers a short summary document setting out important information about the services provided
- requiring CMCs that buy ‘lead lists’ from third parties to carry out due diligence around how those leads were obtained,
- asking CMCs to record all calls with customers, and to keep the recordings for a minimum of 12 months
- requiring firms to hold capital linked to the type of business they undertake
- a new requirement to protect client money
Our consultation sets out our
proposed approach to authorising both existing and new CMCs including how
temporary permissions will operate.
There will be opportunities to
provide feedback on our proposals including various events for CMCs.
The
deadline for providing feedback on our proposals is 3 August 2018. You
can read the Consultation
Paper here.
Simplified access to the GABRIEL system
We have made improvements to the log-in and password
reset process for the GABRIEL reporting system.
From the 11 June 2018, you will be able to:
-
Use your registered email address as your username.
- Register all types of email domain addresses. This means you (as well as all of your users) can use an email address that doesn’t just end with .com or .co.uk.
- Reset your password by using our new self-service tool. You will no longer have to answer the security questions.
We hope you’ll find these changes beneficial and access
to the system much easier and quicker.
Digital regulatory reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month pilots to build
upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will evaluate the
feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2 use cases. One
will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale reporting. Any
financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of the pilots
will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an integral part
of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the industry.
All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended output will
be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide feedback
on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further information,
including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
The Bank of England is consulting on a new messaging standard.
Register
here – the deadline for submissions
is 18 July 2018
The major UK payments systems (CHAPS, Faster Payments, Bacs)
are moving to the global messaging standard for payments, known as ‘ISO 20022’.
The coordinated adoption of a single standard across UK payment systems will
bring many benefits for payments providers, and for the businesses and
households they serve. The design of the standard is consistent with that of
many other countries and is a significant step forward in harmonisation, both
domestically, and for cross-border payments.
To find out more about the proposals and to participate in
the consultation please visit
the Bank’s website.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an
integral part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the
industry. All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended
output will be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide
feedback on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further
information, including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an
integral part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the
industry. All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended
output will be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide
feedback on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further
information, including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
Live & Local 2018/19
events announced
Following the
success of the 2017/18 programme, we are launching the first set of UK-wide
events in the 2018/19 Live & Local programme.
We are continuing
the popular monthly Q&A roundtable discussions where mortgage firms
engage with a panel of FCA and industry representatives in an open, informal
setting. Registration is now open for the roundtables taking place from
September to December 2018. Visit our Live & Local webpages for more
information.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an
integral part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the
industry. All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended
output will be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide
feedback on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further
information, including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
The Bank of England is
consulting on a new messaging standard
Register here – the deadline for submissions is 18 July 2018
The major UK payments systems (CHAPS, Faster Payments, Bacs) are moving to the global messaging standard for payments, known as ‘ISO 20022’. The coordinated adoption of a single standard across UK payment systems will bring many benefits for payments providers, and for the businesses and households they serve. The design of the standard is consistent with that of many other countries and is a significant step forward in harmonisation, both domestically, and for cross-border payments.
To find out more about the proposals and to participate in the consultation please visit the Bank’s website.
Live & Local 2018/19 events announced
Following the
success of the 2017/18 programme, we are launching the first set of UK-wide
events in the 2018/19 Live & Local programme.
For general
insurance firms, we are offering these events:
- Interactive workshop on the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) and the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD)
- Q&A roundtable discussions where general insurance firms engage with a panel of FCA and industry representatives in an open, informal setting.
Registration is now
open for these events taking place from September to December 2018. Visit our
Live & Local
webpages
for more information.
Digital regulatory reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an
integral part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the
industry. All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended
output will be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide
feedback on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further
information, including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
FCA response to Law
Commission recommendations on pension funds and social investment
The Government has
published a response to the Law Commission’s (LC) report on pension funds
and social investment. We contributed to the document with our response to
recommendations that we consider:
- Rule changes to require Independent Governance
Committees (IGCs) to report on their firm’s policies on how they evaluate
long-term investment risks.
- Guidance for contract-based pension providers on
considering financial and non-financial factors when making investment
decisions.
- Guidance on the types of investments that can be
made by unit-linked funds (our permitted links rules) to clarify that these are
consistent with the inclusion of an element of social impact investing.
We
have carefully considered the LC’s recommendations. We aim to consult on rule
changes by the first quarter of 2019 requiring IGCs to report on their firm’s
policies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, including
climate change; on members’ ethical concerns; and on stewardship. At the same time, we will also consult on
introducing related guidance for providers of workplace personal pension
schemes on considering financial and non-financial factors when making
investment decisions. We are waiting until early 2019 so that we can consult on
a single package of rule changes affecting IGCs.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank
of England on 6 month pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will evaluate the
feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2 use cases. One
will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale reporting. Any
financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of the pilots
will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an integral part
of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the industry.
All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended output will
be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide feedback
on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further information,
including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
The Bank of England is
consulting on a new messaging standard for UK payments
Register
here – the deadline for submissions
is 18 July 2018
The major UK payments systems (CHAPS, Faster Payments, Bacs)
are moving to the global messaging standard for payments, known as ‘ISO 20022’.
The coordinated adoption of a single standard across UK payment systems will
bring many benefits for payments providers, and for the businesses and households
they serve. The design of the standard is consistent with that of many other
countries and is a significant step forward in harmonisation, both
domestically, and for cross-border payments.
To find out more about the proposals and to participate in
the consultation please visit
the Bank’s website.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept developed
at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an
integral part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the
industry. All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended
output will be open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide
feedback on the direction of the pilots as they progress. For further
information, including on how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
High-Cost Credit
We published
2 consultation papers on 31 May, setting out proposals for changes in the
markets for overdrafts, rent-to-own, home-collected credit and catalogue and
store cards. We also set out for
discussion possible proposals that we are considering around fundamental
changes to the way banks operate and charge for overdrafts, and a possible cap
on prices for rent-to-own products.
We welcome comments on the
discussion questions on rent-to-own pricing by 13 July 2018, and on all the
consultation proposals and the discussion questions on overdrafts (pricing
intervention and repeat use) by 31 August 2018.
Digital regulatory reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale
reporting. Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of
the pilots will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an integral
part of the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the industry.
All findings from the pilots will be published and the intended output will be
open source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide feedback on the
direction of the pilots as they progress. For further information, including on
how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
The Bank of England is
consulting on a new messaging standard for UK payments
Register
here – the deadline for submissions
is 18 July 2018
The major UK payments systems (CHAPS, Faster Payments, Bacs)
are moving to the global messaging standard for payments, known as ‘ISO 20022’.
The coordinated adoption of a single standard across UK payment systems will
bring many benefits for payments providers, and for the businesses and
households they serve. The design of the standard is consistent with that of
many other countries and is a significant step forward in harmonisation, both
domestically, and for cross-border payments.
To find out more about the proposals and to participate in
the consultation please visit
the Bank’s website.
Digital regulatory
reporting
We are working with the Bank of England on 6 month
pilots to build upon the Proof of Concept
developed at our November TechSprint on digital regulatory reporting. The pilots will
evaluate the feasibility of scaling the work from the TechSprint considering 2
use cases. One will focus on retail reporting and the other on wholesale reporting.
Any financial services firm that wishes to participate in either of the pilots
will need to help with resourcing. However, transparency is an integral part of
the pilots and we welcome and encourage input from across the industry. All
findings from the pilots will be published and the intended output will be open
source. We will provide opportunities for firms to provide feedback on the
direction of the pilots as they progress. For further information, including on
how to participate in the pilots, please email regtech@fca.org.uk.
The Bank of England is
consulting on a new messaging standard for UK payments
Register
here – the deadline for submissions
is 18 July 2018
The major UK payments systems (CHAPS, Faster Payments, Bacs)
are moving to the global messaging standard for payments, known as ‘ISO 20022’.
The coordinated adoption of a single standard across UK payment systems will bring
many benefits for payments providers, and for the businesses and households
they serve. The design of the standard is consistent with that of many other
countries and is a significant step forward in harmonisation, both
domestically, and for cross-border payments.
To find out more about the proposals and to participate in
the consultation please visit
the Bank’s website.
Regional Live & Local events for payments
services firms
As part of the Live & Local 2018/19 programme, we have
added events in London, Birmingham and Manchester tailored for non-bank payment
services firms. These ‘introduction to FCA Payments Supervision’ events will
provide clarity on our role and expectations, and our supervisory approach.
These events will also offer you an opportunity to ask us questions and meet
our Payments Department.
The events take place from September to November 2018.
Dates, locations and registration link are available on the Live & Local
webpage.
Live & Local 2018/19
events programme announced
Continuing our successful
Live & Local events programme that began in April 2016, we are now
launching our 2018/19 programme. From September 2018, we will be travelling
across the UK with a new series of events for regulated firms.
The first set of events will
take place September to December 2018. This year, we have added events for
non-bank payment services firms in addition to events for general insurance and
mortgage firms.
Visit our Live & Local
webpages for dates, locations and registration links.
2018/2019 fees and levies –
register for online invoicing
We
will be invoicing firms for their annual fees and levies from early July to mid
September. Most firms are now registered for online invoicing. If you haven’t
registered for online invoicing please email our fees team FCAfees@fca.org.uk before July.
Operational Resilience
The
operational resilience of firms is a priority in the FCA’s
2018/19 Business Plan. Over the
coming months, we will be increasing our supervisory focus on the highest
impact firms and carrying out focused thematic work with ‘lower impact’
firms. We will also engage widely with the industry to:
- explain why operational resilience matters to us
- remind firms of our current requirements and expectations
- generate debate about how together we may strengthen firm’s operational resilience, minimise disruption to the business services that firms provide, and minimise the harm caused by disruptive events
We
plan to publish a Discussion Paper, jointly with the Bank of England and the
Prudential Regulation Authority, about these matters in July.
Data Bulletin – June 2018
We have published the latest issue of the Data
Bulletin. The bulletin focuses on new analysis of the retail intermediary
sector based on the data firms have submitted to us via the Retail Mediation
Activities Return (RMAR). The RMAR, is submitted by approximately 12,000
intermediary firms that each year help millions of consumers to access key
financial products –mortgages, insurance policies, and retail investment
products.
We have published
data from the RMAR since 2016 and hope that you find them a useful source of
insight into the retail intermediary sector. In response to feedback from users
of the data, we have added some new analysis sections. This edition
provides an update of revenue trends to 2017 and analysis of activities and
information on advice and charges for the last full financial year. Our new
analysis includes a focus on capital resource requirements and professional
indemnity insurance (PII) premiums.
Cyber infographic
We have published a new infographic on
the basics of network security. It is designed to help firms, particularly
smaller businesses, to become more resilient to cyber attacks.
We want to help the UK
remain a safe place to do business, and a key part of that is helping your
organisations to become more cyber resilient. We published our first guide on
cyber security last year, and our new infographic expands on the good practice
points we raised there.
Find
out more by visiting our cyber
resilience webpage.
Launch of weekly News and
Publications emails
We
have launched our new News and Publications weekly emails service which is
sent every Friday at 4pm. Firms, consumers and all stakeholders can now
receive the latest news and publications published on our website for that
week in a single email. Subscribe to these from either the News or Publications sections on our
website.
EU withdrawal
All firms should be considering the impact of EU
withdrawal on their activities and customers. This should be considered both in
the event the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, and also the implications of a
transitional period until December 2020, under which EU rules will continue to
apply.
As part of this, if your firm undertakes business in the
EEA you should consider the legal basis on which this occurs. This includes
whether your firm needs additional regulatory permissions in light of EU
withdrawal and whether your customers need to be informed of any changes. You may
also wish to discuss this with the relevant local regulator and/or seek legal
advice, including foreign law advice.
We know that planning for EU withdrawal will be a major focus for many firms
over the coming year and we will make every effort to keep you informed and
updated. For regular updates, please see our EU withdrawal pages.
FCA response to Law
Commission recommendations on pension funds and social investment
The Government has
published a response to the Law Commission’s (LC) report on pension funds and social investment.
We
contributed to the document with our response to recommendations that we
consider:
- Rule changes to require Independent
Governance Committees (IGCs) to report on their firm’s policies on how they
evaluate long-term investment risks.
- Guidance for contract-based pension providers
on considering financial and non-financial factors when making investment
decisions.
- Guidance on the types of investments that can
be made by unit-linked funds (our permitted links rules) to clarify that these
are consistent with the inclusion of an element of social impact investing.
We have carefully considered the LC’s recommendations. We
aim to consult on rule changes by the first quarter of 2019 requiring IGCs to
report on their firm’s policies on environmental, social and governance (ESG)
issues, including climate change; on members’ ethical concerns; and on
stewardship. At the same time, we will also consult on introducing related
guidance for providers of workplace personal pension schemes on considering
financial and non-financial factors when making investment decisions. We are
waiting until early 2019 so that we can consult on a single package of rule
changes affecting IGCs.
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