We are reviewing and updating authorisation forms to improve the user journey and guidance text. This will save you time and give us the quality data we need to assess applications.

We have made improvements to Form A first, used for Senior Management Function and Controlled Function applications. This is one of our longest and most common forms.

The new and improved version of Form A will be rolled out to more firms shortly.

We intend to make changes to other application forms once our work on Form A is complete.

The new digitised forms will support quicker assessments by making sure we get all the information we need when an application is submitted, preventing avoidable ‘back and forth’ with applicants to chase missing information.

This work is part of our aim to become a digital, data-led regulator.

You can read more in this blog.

We have also published our latest quarterly authorisations performance metrics.

The statistics show we are continuing to perform well, with 96.8% of authorisation applications were determined within the statutory deadline.

We’re hosting a webinar on 6 December to help firms understand our expectations now the Duty is in force.

During the webinar we’ll talk about our supervision and enforcement approach, sector specific areas of focus, examples of good practice, and next steps for firms. We’ll also take questions, which you can submit when you register or during the event. The webinar will be available on demand.

The webinar follows a speech by Nisha Arora, Director of Cross Cutting Policy and Strategy, on 1 November marking 3 months of the Duty being in force. In the speech Nisha set out that the Duty is not a ‘once and done’ exercise. Firms need to make sure they are learning and improving continuously and must be able to evidence this in their annual board report. She also reminded firms with closed products and services that they should check they are on track to meet the 31 July 2024 implementation deadline.

The Consumer Duty remains a top priority for the FCA. We will continue our work across all sectors to test firms’ implementation and embedding and will share good practice to support the industry.

On 7 November we published the findings of our review of anti-fraud controls and complaint handling in a sample of payment service providers, with a focus on Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.

In the first half of 2023 over 116,000 people reported falling victim to APP fraud, while fraud overall accounted for an estimated 40% of all crimes in England and Wales in 2022 (Office for National Statistics). The impact on its victims can be devastating.

Our report includes examples of good practice as well as areas for improvement, to help firms consider actions they may need to take to improve their fraud risk management and customer treatment. These findings should be considered alongside those from our recent review of payment account providers’ systems and controls against money mule activity.

We expect firms to have effective governance arrangements, controls and management information (MI) to detect, manage and reduce APP fraud losses and to treat customers fairly, including when they complain, and to deliver consistently good outcomes to customers who are victims of fraud.

We will continue to monitor how firms are meeting our expectations in this area, working with firms to strengthen their approach where needed.

The Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum has published the latest Regulatory Initiatives Grid.

We publish the Grid twice a year to help manage the operational impact on firms of implementing initiatives from the Forum members. It also helps firms and other stakeholders plan for forthcoming initiatives. The Grid provides detail on the timing of initiatives over a 24-month horizon and highlights key examples of closely interconnected initiatives to help stakeholders easily identify these.

In October, we wrote to the Remuneration Committee Chairs of level one firms (Dual-regulated banks, building societies and PRA designated investment firms with total assets exceeding £50bn).

This letter set out some important points for them to consider and adopt into their firm’s remuneration policies and practices, to incentivise a consumer-centred approach that ensures good outcomes for consumers across all products and services.

The letter also acknowledged that many firms have been focused on supporting lower paid workers while no doubt remaining cognisant of inflationary pressures and highlighted the ongoing importance of building and nurturing healthy corporate cultures.

While we sent the letter to Level one remuneration firms, other firms may find it useful.

We’ve published our finalised non-handbook Guidance for cryptoasset financial promotions and the accompanying feedback statement.

The Guidance supports crypto firms complying with the new marketing rules introduced in October, which aim to help consumers better understand what they are investing in, and the risks involved. The Guidance is designed to help firms develop fair, clear and not misleading promotions for certain types of cryptoassets and services. It also details how firms should apply the Consumer Duty when communicating or approving financial promotions of cryptoassets.

We continue to remind people that cryptoassets remain largely unregulated and high-risk. People should be prepared to lose all the money they invest.

This month we published our Discussion Paper on regulating stablecoins. Stablecoins are a new type of digital asset which aim to maintain a stable value. This marks the start of the first phase of the Government's plan to introduce a wider cryptoasset regime and builds on the Treasury's Policy Statement.

Our paper outlines our initial thinking on how the issuance and custody of stablecoins should be regulated. We also set out potential regulatory requirements for these stablecoins to be used for payments in the UK, as they could help make payments faster and cheaper.

The aim of the regime is to make sure stablecoins that are issued in or from the UK, held in custody and/or used for payments in the UK are subject to strong regulatory standards. This helps mitigate the risks and harms that we have seen while offering consumers appropriate protections when using this money-like instrument.

You have until 6 February 2024 to share your feedback on our approach.

We have published a consultation paper setting out plans for changes to the way we will raise FCA fees from 2024/25. We are inviting firms and stakeholders to comment on our proposals by 16 January 2024.

This document applies to all FCA fee-payers, levy-payers of the Financial Ombudsman Service and of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and any businesses considering applying for FCA authorisation or registration.

We want your views on the potential competition impacts from the data asymmetry between Big Tech firms and firms in financial services.

The next stage of our work in this area seeks to better understand this asymmetry, its influence on how effectively competition evolves in the future, and the potential impact on market power, price discrimination and innovation.

We’ll use your feedback to shape a future regulatory response on Big Tech - respond by 22 January 2024.

We published the observations from our multi-firm review into firms’ progress in implementing requirements under the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR).

Firms engaged well and showed that they were able to make the transition to the new regulations. However, there are areas for improvement. This publication should be considered together with our February 2023 publication. Firms must act now to consider our findings and assure themselves that they are meeting our rules. We are also holding briefings on the contents of our publications. Please get in touch with your supervisors or trade associations for further information.

We have recently reviewed our interpretation of the consumer credit legislation for Limited Permission secondary credit brokers. Specifically, how the legislation applies to credit broking firms whose main business activity is the supply of non-financial services.

As part of this review, firms authorised as a Full Permission credit broker firm may be eligible to become authorised as a Limited Permission firm - depending on what activities they undertake.

Firms can use the decision tool on our website for further information about whether they may be affected by our review.

In March 2023, we set up the Synthetic Data Expert Group (SDEG) to further explore the use of synthetic data in financial markets.

The group aims to provide practical and tangible synthetic data insights for practitioners and policymakers.

The SDEG will publish a report in 2024 providing practical experiences of generating and using synthetic data across different financial use cases.

Later next year, we will also create a framework that enables organisations to collaborate on synthetic data use cases to promote data sharing.

Find out about the progress we’re making and how you can get involved.

We’ve reminded principals to review any arrangements with overseas appointed representatives (OARs).

If your OARs don’t carry on regulated activity in the UK you should consider whether the arrangements remain appropriate and, if not, terminate the AR contract.

You should notify us of terminations (and other AR updates, including to addresses) by submitting the relevant form on Connect.

We continue to consider our approach to this model and principals may be contacted for further information.

See PS22/11 (4.19-4.23) for further detail or contact ARDOverseasARQueries@fca.org.uk.

From 1 December, all principal firms will need to send us regular data about their Appointed Representatives (ARs) using the REP205 form in RegData.

When to report your AR data will depend on your account referencing date (ARD). If you fail to report on time you will incur a late return notification and a £250 administration fee.

Prepare for the changes now – read our REP025 FAQs.

From December 2023, if you have Appointed Representatives (ARs) you must confirm their details when completing your annual Firm Details Attestation (FDA).

You must attest the details of all ARs including if:

• they have more than one principal
• their details haven’t changed from last year or have been recently updated 

FDAs must be completed within 60 business days of your Annual Referencing Date (ARD). If you fail to report you will incur a late return notification, £250 late return fee, and possible enforcement action.

Find out more about what AR information you need to report to us and how.

We’ve published new information and examples of good practice to help principals when recruiting appointed representatives (ARs) and completing related Approved Persons applications, covering:

• what to include in your AR notifications
• what due diligence to complete before submitting Approved Persons notifications
• the types of information to identify and disclose when assessing a candidate’s fitness and propriety

Recently, Sheldon Mills, Sacha Sadan, and other expert panellists discussed our consultation proposals for a more diverse and inclusive financial services industry, demonstrating how our recommendations support progress by setting minimum standards.

You can watch our webinar on our proposals to achieve a more diverse and inclusive financial services industry online.

Our consultation on Diversity and Inclusion in the Financial Sector is open until 18 December 2023, for you to read and respond to.

All firms must ensure that we have their correct information by checking, amending (if required) and confirming their firms details at least annually, using Connect, in line with SUP 16.10 reporting requirements. Some of this information is on the Financial Services Register.

We have written to all dual regulated firms (firms supervised by the FCA and the PRA) to inform them that they will need to attest to their firm details within 60 business days of their Accounting Reference Date (ARD), from 1 December 2023.

For more information, visit our website.

In October we published a joint Feedback Statement (FS) on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with the Bank of England. The FS summarises responses to the Discussion Paper published in October 2022.

Key points include:

• Support for principles-based or risk-based approaches to the definition of AI with a focus on specific characteristics of AI or risks posed or amplified by AI. 
• Focus of regulation and supervision should be on consumer outcomes, especially with respect to ensuring fairness and other ethical dimensions.
• More coordination and alignment between regulators, domestic and international would be helpful.
• Ongoing industry engagement is important.

The FCA Cost Benefit Analysis Panel is a new independent panel established following the enactment of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to provide advice and report on how the FCA and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) conduct cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in policy development.

We are recruiting our first Chair, who will lead a Panel of experts to provide independent and pragmatic advice, challenge, and scrutiny to help raise the standard of CBA and evidence-based policy development in the FCA and PSR.

We are looking for someone with substantial experience of being in a senior position in the Financial Services industry who also has a strong background in economics and is interested in CBA. Role description with details of how to apply.

We are looking to appoint a new member to the SBPP to represent the consumer credit sector.

This is an opportunity to help shape the FCA’s strategy and policies at a time of significant change in UK financial services regulation.

Please see our website for more information about our statutory panels.

Please submit applications to SBPP@fca.org.uk by 7 January 2024.

See more about how the FCA is taking action to be a leading diverse and inclusive organisation.

On 7 November, the Treasury laid in Parliament a Statutory Instrument (SI) extending the transitional period for third country benchmarks under the UK Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2030.

The SI will come into effect on 1 January 2024, subject to successfully passing through parliament.

This extension will ensure continued access to third country benchmarks in the UK.

The Treasury has published a draft statutory instrument for a new UK Short Selling Regime to replace the UK Short Selling Regulation as part of the Smarter Regulatory Framework with an accompanying Policy Note as part of the Autumn Statement. The Treasury welcomes comments by 10 January 2024.

The Treasury plans to increase the threshold for firms reporting short positions to the FCA to 0.2%, replace the public disclosure of individual firms’ short positions in companies with aggregated short positions in companies, and to remove reporting and covering requirements for sovereign debt and sovereign credit default swaps.

Following the Government’s Autumn Statement announcement that open-ended property funds with extended notice periods will be eligible to be held in an ISA, we will reconsult on proposals contained in CP20/15 to introduce mandatory notice periods for authorised funds that predominantly invest in property.

We do not expect to finalise our policy position until at least Q4 2024.

We understand the operational work required across the value chain to support notice periods. If we proceed with applying mandatory notice periods, we will allow an implementation period of at least 18 months before the rules come into force.

We announced that we are partnering with regulators across the world as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian. Project Guardian is a collaborative initiative with the financial industry that explores fund and asset tokenisation use cases, and decentralised finance.

The project aims to share knowledge and examine the benefits, regulatory challenges, and commercial use cases of asset and fund tokenisation.

Read more: MAS partners policymakers in Japan, Switzerland and the UK to foster responsible digital asset innovation.

Larry Barreto has been found guilty of 11 charges of fraud by false representation following a prosecution brought by the FCA.

At an earlier hearing, Mr Barreto pleaded guilty to 2 offences of arranging and advising on regulated mortgages without FCA authorisation. At the beginning of the trial, Mr Barreto’s co-defendant, Tassib Hussain, a chartered accountant, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

The total value of the mortgages falsely applied for was around £3m.

Both individuals will be sentenced on 23 February 2024.

We have banned Geoffrey Armin from advising customers on pension transfers and pension opt outs, and from holding any senior management function in a regulated firm.

Mr Armin advised 422 customers on the transfer of their defined benefit pensions, including 183 members of the British Steel Pension Scheme – 174 of whom transferred out of the scheme following his recommendation. These fees added up to £2.2m for all DB transfer advice, 55% (approximately £1.2m) of which was retained by Retirement and Pension Planning Services and Mr Armin.

Mr Armin will also pay £200,000 to the FSCS to contribute to redress due to his customers, including members of the British Steel Pension Scheme. To date, the FSCS has paid out £3,961,517 in compensation to Mr Armin’s customers.

Our latest data shows this year between July to September, 96.8% of authorisation applications were determined within the statutory deadline.

We are maintaining high standards to protect customers and bolster the reputation of the UK market.

Sheree Howard, the FCA’s Executive Director of Risk and Compliance Oversight, set out how and why it was important for firms to build healthy cultures.