We published an update on our Borrowers in Financial Difficulty project. We launched this in March 2021, to look at how firms implemented the Tailored Support Guidance (TSG) to continue to support mortgage, consumer credit and overdraft customers affected by the pandemic. 

With the pandemic continuing, we want to reiterate our expectations for the treatment of customers.  

We have also detailed some of our interim findings to help firms ensure they deliver the best outcomes for customers needing support. These cover areas including: 

• offering appropriate forbearance 
• fair treatment of vulnerable customers 
• fees and charges 
• training and oversight 
• debt advice 

We believe TSG continues to provide an appropriate framework for lenders to support customers affected by coronavirus (Covid-19).

We continue to engage with the firms, identified in our work, who risk not meeting our requirements. This includes asking for changes to be made to firms’ policies and processes. We may also use our formal powers where we consider it’s appropriate and proportionate.   

We are continuing in-depth work to assess whether consumers are getting fair and appropriate outcomes, including customers with characteristics of vulnerability.    

This will shape our next phase, including targeted action with firms not meeting expectations, and considering whether to make changes to our rules and guidance.   

Regulatory references are central to the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR). They help firms make informed decisions about the fitness and propriety of individuals to whom they intend to assign Senior Management or Certification Functions (or appoint as non-approved Non-Executive Directors).  

We received feedback on the challenges firms face when obtaining regulatory references and wanted to clarify some key points. 

• You should request, and respond to requests for, regulatory references promptly. Although SYSC 22 includes guidance that they should be provided within 6 weeks, this is a limit, not a target. 
• When providing regulatory references, use the template in SYSC 22 Annex 1. Ensure the template is complete and the information provided is accurate, before sending it. Failing to use the correct template or sending incomplete or inaccurate information can cause delays. 
• Firms need only take reasonable steps to obtain regulatory references. If you experience difficulties obtaining regulatory references from a particular firm, tell us. If you are unable to obtain regulatory references as part of an application, set out the steps you took to obtain references - this will help avoid delays during the application assessment. 
• You should assess regulatory references on a case-by-case basis and individuals shouldn’t be automatically rejected due to a qualification in their references. You also shouldn’t have a quota for the number of qualified references you will accept, as we understand is sometimes the case. 

Timely, good quality references are in the interests of everyone.  

See here for SM&CR guides for insurers and solo-regulated firms.

We recently implemented changes to simplify our authorisation application fees. In most cases, the application fees have increased. Our Policy Statement sets out the changes, which follow feedback on our consultation in April 2021.   

The changes introduce:  

• A lower charge when firms that apply for the credit-related permissions of debt counselling and debt adjusting request restrictions on their permitted activity because it is ancillary to their main business.
• A charge for lead generator Claims Management Companies applying for permission to seek out people who may have a claim. 

Further work is required before we introduce the new charge of £250 for stand-alone Long Form A applications both for Senior Manager Functions and for Controlled Functions for Appointed Representatives. This change was part of our consultation. We'll still be introducing that fee and will update you in due course.

On 25 January, we published a guidance consultation on our approach to compromises (eg schemes of arrangement, restructuring plans and voluntary arrangements such as CVAs) for regulated firms (GC22/1). When considering compromises, firms should ensure they propose the best possible outcome for their customers.  

The proposed guidance aims to help regulated firms understand our expectations; it sets out the FCA’s role, the information we need firms to give to us, and the factors we consider when assessing compromises and deciding if and what actions to take. 

Read and respond to the consultation by 1 March 2022. 

On 15 December 2021 the Treasury published a consultation on the Financial Promotion Order exemptions for high net worth and sophisticated investors. As set out in our 2020/1 perimeter report, we are concerned that unauthorised firms are increasingly relying on these exemptions to target ordinary consumers with high-risk investments and scams. 

The consultation proposes reforms to these exemptions, responding to economic, social and technological changes that have occurred since the exemptions were introduced in 2001, and to instances of misuse of the exemptions identified by the FCA. 

The deadline for responses is 9 March 2022. 

In PS20/9 we introduced rules requiring General Insurance (GI) firms to report value measures data to us, as well as value measures product governance rules. These help to address poor value of products and came into force on 1 January 2021, with reporting rules on 1 July 2021.   

Firms’ first reports will be for the 6-month period covering 1 July 2021 to 31 December, and are due by 28 February 2022.  

Subsequent reporting will be submitted annually by 28 February for the previous calendar year. Firms must submit the reports via RegData. For more information visit our website. 

In PS21/5 we confirmed senior managers must attest annually that their firm has complied with our General Insurance (GI) Pricing Practices rules. This helps us to hold firms and individuals to account when ending ‘price walking’ for home and motor insurance.  

We sent out a survey in January to premium finance providers and firms with GI permissions to facilitate the first annual attestation. Firms that received the survey must respond in full or provide a nil return by 31 March 2022. All subsequent attestation will be done via RegData.  

Visit our website for more detail – this includes copies of the forms for the first and subsequent attestations for information purposes. 

On January 11 we published the ‘Accessing and using wholesale data Feedback Statement’.  

In March 2020 we issued a Call for Input (CFI) to better understand how data and advanced analytics are being accessed and used in wholesale markets. Our Feedback Statement sets out our findings and analysis of responses received to the CFI and our proposed next steps.  

In the statement we announced a programme of work that includes information gathering on trading data in spring 2022, and 2 market studies on benchmarks and credit ratings agencies to be launched later in 2022.

Visit our website for more detail and to read the full Feedback Statement. 

European firms wishing to remain in the temporary permissions regime (TPR) need to meet the FCA’s standards to continue operating in the UK. 

Firms may be asked to stop undertaking new business or could be removed from the TPR if they miss their ‘landing slot’, fail to respond to mandatory information requests, have no intention in applying for full authorisation, or if their authorisation application is refused. 

We have already cancelled the temporary permissions of 4 firms, who, despite multiple opportunities, did not respond to mandatory information requests. 

Firms that have had their permissions cancelled can no longer conduct regulated business in the UK and will be committing a criminal offence if they do so. 

If you are a PMI insurer or broker you must submit a compliance report to the Competition and Markets Authority by 1 February 2022. This obligation arises from the CMA’s PMI Market Investigation Order 2015. The Annual PMI Compliance Statement should be submitted online and by uploading tables of Average No Claims Bonus Discounts. 

Email pmiformrequest2@cma.gov.uk to obtain your personal link to the form and information about submitting your compliance report.

If you offer both insurance and brokerage services, please follow the instructions for the primary role of your business. 

On 10 February, we’re hosting a RegTech Forum webinar on the FCA’s approach to regulatory innovation and the growing importance of Supervisory Technologies (SupTech).  

During the event, we’ll explore how innovative technologies are being used by regulators and seek to understand the challenges and opportunities for further adoption in the future.

The event will include opening comments from our Chief Data, Information & Intelligence Officer, Jessica Rusu.

More information and registration 

We’ve published our 2022 report on competition in retail banking markets.

Our analysis explored industry trends in light of significant changes such as coronavirus, increased digitalisation and ring-fencing, and considered what this has meant for competition and overall profitability. We also provided a detailed analysis of different products offered by banks to both consumers and businesses.

Overall, we found that greater competition is driving choice and lower prices for consumers and small businesses, despite the financial impact of the pandemic. For more information read key findings or full analysis.