Investors have never had more freedom. Technology has democratised the market, new products have become available and people have more access to their life savings. But that freedom comes with risk.

We want to give consumers greater confidence to invest, and to do so safely, understanding the risks. In turn, this should lead to fewer people being scammed or persuaded to invest in products that are too risky for their needs.

There is no single answer to this so our approach has to be multifaceted.

We have published our Consumer Investments Strategy to help people invest with confidence.

We will achieve this by drawing on all the tools at our disposal - a tougher gateway, stringent supervision and enforcement action, as well as new rules to make changes where harm is developing.  

Our strategy sets out a package of measures to achieve the following outcomes by 2025 and we will publish metrics to be transparent about how we’re meeting them:

• reduce by 20% the number of consumers who could benefit from investment earnings but are missing out 
• halve the number of consumers who are investing in higher risk products that are not aligned to their needs 
• reduce the money consumers lose to investment scams perpetrated by regulated firms 
• stabilise the compensation bill for the FSCS, and target a year-on-year reduction in the LDII funding class 

We’ll continue to take assertive action against bad actors that cause consumer harm. But we also need industry to work with us to strengthen standards and address poor practice. 

We communicated in December 2020 about the delays in determining SMR (Senior Manager Regime) and SIF (Significant Influence Function) applications, following the large volume of applications received before the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). 

We increased resourcing to address the delays and made good progress in determining most applications which had breached their statutory deadline and reducing the allocation times for applications. 

However, in Q1 2021 we received significantly higher volumes of applications than we forecast. As capacity was down due to Covid-19, we were not able to bring our case volumes and allocation times back to business-as-usual levels by the end of the financial year as planned. Therefore, we’re sorry that applicants may still face delays while we increase resources.  

Applications to hold a Controlled Function at an Appointed Representative that are both routine and non-routine are dealt with by the same teams as handle Senior Manager applications. Because information about such candidates will be examined in detail, these also take longer to determine. You can help us to process your application as quickly as possible by: 

• carefully checking the application before submission to ensure that it has been completed in full 
• remembering that for SMR applications you must complete a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check before submission  
• making sure you have conducted, and included, all appropriate due diligence checks, including regulatory references, before submitting a candidate 
• responding promptly and fully if we contact you to seek further information about a submitted application

The introduction of auto-enrolment and the shift of savings risk to individual savers from the adoption of Defined Contribution pensions means it is increasingly important that the pension sector maximises long-term value for consumers. 

To help drive industry focus on long-term value, we have published a joint Discussion Paper with The Pensions Regulator (TPR) seeking views on developing a framework to assess value for money in pension schemes.  

Currently it is difficult for Independent Governance Committees (IGCs), trustees and other stakeholders to assess how much value pension schemes deliver, as published data to compare schemes is both incomplete and inconsistent, preventing effective comparison. 

We want schemes to be able to compete effectively on long-term value for money, and believe transparency, through a common framework, is essential to achieving this. Common metrics and benchmarks will allow decision makers, intermediaries and others to compare the value of schemes effectively. This will help drive industry focus on long-term value to maximise retirement income for savers.  

Our paper discusses how to assess 3 key drivers of value for money in pensions; investment performance; customer service and scheme oversight; and costs. It considers establishing standard metrics and benchmarking mechanisms for each of these.  

We would like to hear your views on the ideas in the paper and any others you have. We are seeking views by 10 December and will publish a Feedback Statement in the first half of 2022, setting out your feedback and our next steps. You can send your feedback to VFMdiscussionpaper@fca.org.uk. 

From 16 September 2021, Principal firms submitting Appointed Representative notifications via Connect will be required to submit an accompanying Form A, individual application (CF1 AR) and / or (CF 30 AR) simultaneously.

The amended process will combine Add Appointed Representative notifications with the requirement for firms to submit a Form A application. This will allow us to integrate both assessments simultaneously, those being the suitability of the Appointed Representatives and the fitness and propriety / overall regulatory conduct of the individual.  

Exemptions to the process include Introducer Appointed Representative notifications, Changes to Appointed Representatives and Sole Trader notifications.  

We’ve published draft guidance on a new power that will help us to quickly remove regulatory permissions that firms are no longer using. The changes will help to ensure the Register presents a clearer picture of the permissions firms hold and help prevent consumers being misled by incorrect or outdated information. 

It follows our ‘use it or lose it’ exercise in January, where we reminded firms of their obligation to review regulatory permissions and ensure they are up to date or removed if not needed. Firms should read the consultation and respond by 29 October 2021. 

Returning from the summer break is a great time to take stock of your firm's cyber resilience.  

Over the last few years, we’ve published tips and insights about establishing good cyber security from some of our largest regulated firms. They cover key topics like identity and access management, the importance of robust governance, and third party and supply chain risk. It’s worth reading these and seeing where you can tighten the bolts on your cyber resilience. You don’t want to get caught out.  

You’ll find our documents here covering cyber security insights from 2020, 2019 and 2018.

We published the findings of our review into how firms responded to our requirements and expectations of their approach to product governance and value, and our related guidance published in response to Covid-19. 

All firms should consider our findings and any actions they need to take. Many firms still have work to do and this is a final opportunity to identify and address gaps or shortcomings in their approach to meeting the new product governance requirements set out in PS21/5, before their implementation on 1 October 2021. After this date, firms who cannot evidence compliance risk regulatory action. 

We have announced the start of a periodic review of Finalised Guidance 17/9: Guidance for firms on how to calculate redress for unsuitable defined benefit pension transfers. 

We have also set out what we expect of firms while the review is ongoing, including clarifying how firms should be applying or interpreting the guidance in certain areas. 

Read the Statement on our website to find out more. 

We recently consulted in CP21/3 on amending our Approach Document to reflect the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) view of inherence for the purpose of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). 

After considering consultation responses we have chosen not to reflect the EBA’s view of inherence in our Approach Document. We wanted to clarify this as soon as possible since we are aware firms are currently developing SCA solutions. 

We will publish our rationale and a summary of consultation responses in a full policy statement later this year.