The UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) has launched a Call for Evidence seeking feedback on the key principles and elements of a credible transition plan.   

Many firms are starting to publish their plans to get to net zero. Yet the quality and robustness of these plans varies hugely, if they are published at all. As the UK Government moves towards making publication of climate transition plans mandatory, it established the TPT to develop a robust and comparable framework. The Taskforce brings together leading experts from across finance, academia, regulators and the third sector. We will be actively involved and draw on the TPT’s work to strengthen transition plan disclosure rules for listed companies and financial institutions. 

The Call for Evidence gives an early indication of the direction of travel of the TPT, helping to guide companies who are developing transition plans. It also gives an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed principles and elements of the TPT’s Sector-Neutral Framework. You can help to provide feedback on the principles and elements that should be included. 

The consultation closes on 13 July 2022. 

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Reforming the listing regime for growth and competitiveness 

We recently revalorised our application fees. On 24 January, we advised that we would be introducing a new charge of £250 for standalone long Form A applications both for Senior Manager Functions and Controlled Function for Appointed Representatives.   

We consulted on this new charge in November 2020 as part of CP20/22 and reconfirmed our intention to introduce the fee in a Policy Statement PS22/1.  

We are now confirming the new charge will take effect on 27 May 2022. 

For more information please refer to the Handbook Notice. 

We have launched a Call for Input exploring the potential for synthetic data to support innovation by expanding the opportunities for data access and data sharing. 

We invite academics, regulated firms, start-ups, RegTechs & FinTechs, technology firms, regulators and other policy-making bodies to provide their views on synthetic data. This includes its ability to support innovation, the requirements to be effective, and the potential limitations and risks. 

Please respond by 22 June 2022. 

We have also issued new non-handbook guidance on the UK MMFR which should be read by UK MMF managers and users of UK MMFs. It provides a reminder about existing legislation, addresses possible misconceptions and sets out our view of the options that MMF managers have under the legislation on important points. 

We welcome feedback by 23 July 2022.

We are working with the Bank of England to transform data collection from the UK financial sector. A lot of this work is being carried out by the joint transformation programme we have set up with industry. In April we published a communication outlining the resource we are looking for industry to provide to enable the programme to continue its work in Transforming Data Collection.

This latest communication provides information about the process for individuals and firms wishing to submit nominations to participate on the programme. The deadline for nomination submissions is 22 June 2022. You can read the full update here.  

If you would like to get involved or find out more about the programme, please register here. 

Following a successful pilot, we are rolling out early and high growth oversight to 300 firms this year. This initiative provides closer supervision and help to newly authorised firms to support them in meeting our expectations while they start up and grow. In line with our new Strategy, this work aims to raise standards, help us spot and act on potential harm sooner, and promote competition.  

You can find more information about early and high growth oversight on our website. This includes insights from our pilot which will help other newly- authorised firms or those seeking authorisation. 

Our review of direct-to-consumer investment platforms found that some costs and charges aren’t always clear or easy to find, which can make it hard for consumers to identify and compare prices. 

Investment platforms should make all potential costs and charges clear for consumers. To help firms do this we’ve published examples from our review to outline good and poor practice.

Firms should review our examples and our Handbook provisions in full to ensure they meet their obligations.

If you have information about sanctions evasion or weaknesses in sanction controls, please report it to us.  

We want to hear about sanctions evasion issues which involve firms on The Financial Services Register or our other registers, or companies with UK listed securities.  

Find out how to report, what to tell us about and other important information on our reporting sanctions evasion page. 

On 5 May, we published our press release on screen sharing scams alerting consumers that scammers are increasingly using software to access their device.

We have seen an 86% increase in one year and over £25 million in losses between 1 January 2021 and 31 March 2022. To understand how potential victims could be targeted, we surveyed 2,000 investors from the ages of 18 to 55+ and results showed that nearly 47% of investors would fail to identify screen sharing scam.

To make consumers more aware, we have published steps to take to be alerted to a screen sharing scam and driving consumers to check the Warning List to check if a firm is authorised. 

We have confirmed new powers to more swiftly cancel or change firms’ permissions where they aren’t being used. The new power will help us to quickly respond to inappropriate uses of permission, for example where they’re being used to market high risk products that aren’t regulated.  

Firms should regularly review their permissions to ensure they are correct and seek to cancel them if they aren’t needed or used. 

Read our press release and policy statement. 

We have published a joint Feedback Statement with The Pensions Regulator on the Value for Money discussion paper published last year. We received a wide range of responses, which demonstrated clear support across the industry for a consistent approach to the issue. 

We will develop common measurements, which will allow industry professionals and pension savers to better compare defined contribution pension schemes so they can see which offers more value for money.  

We will continue to engage with industry and consumer groups in the coming months, and together with the Department for Work and Pensions aim to publish a consultation towards the end of 2022, setting out proposals. 

We have published the latest Regulatory Initiatives Grid. This Grid from the Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum sets out the regulatory pipeline so the financial services industry and other stakeholders can understand – and plan for – the timing of the initiatives that may have a significant operational impact on them. 

The latest Grid can be found online here.  

Learning from the last 30 years to face the next

On 5 May, Nikhil Rathi gave a speech at the 30th Anniversary dinner of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) at the Guildhall. He emphasised how never before have professional standards and lifelong learning been so vital. He also revealed his own challenges at learning to code - particularly as his young son lost patience with his dad’s slow progress. Nikhil also called for more financial education for youngsters as children are beginning to participate in crypto assets. 

Supporting consumers in challenging times

Also on 5 May, Sheldon Mills spoke at the annual Building Societies conference on how the FCA is helping consumers manage their finance in the cost-of-living crisis. He said open banking would bring about better opportunities for building societies and their members and spoke about how diversity would bring about better outcomes for the sector. 

Insurance brokers: serving consumers and businesses in times of uncertainty and change

On 11 May, Sheldon spoke at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) conference. He told the audience that insurance brokers had the power to deliver social good and that the FCA would be mindful of our impact on smaller firms.