It is important that as a regulator and enforcement body we hold firms and individuals to account where they have caused significant harm to consumers or markets.  

We understand why people look out for the fines we levy, the bans we impose or the cases we prosecute. But it is also important to achieve wider deterrence, for others to appreciate the serious consequences that may follow if they choose to flout the rules. 

In order to achieve that deterrent effect and deliver on one of the key pillars of our 3-year strategy to reduce and prevent serious harm, we need to be seen to be acting promptly, investigating at pace and delivering more timely outcomes. 

To do this we are going to focus on a streamlined portfolio of investigations that aligns with our top regulatory priorities. We want to drive high operational standards and strong inquisitorial practices, making full use of all the tools at our disposal and acting with greater pace.  

We will back this up with confident decision making allowing us to devote our attention where we can deliver the greatest impact. And we want to be more transparent about our enforcement activity. 

This transparency is important. We are consulting on proposals to enable us to give more detail about our investigations into firms when it is in the public interest to do so. We also plan to publish updates on investigations as appropriate and be open when cases are closed. 

We think that giving greater transparency to our work will enhance the impactful deterrence we are seeking by making it clear much earlier the types of serious failings that can lead to an investigation. 

We are keen to hear what you think about our plans on transparency. Please do respond to the consultation by the deadline of 16 April 2024.

The Consumer Duty came into force for open products on 31 July 2023, setting higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services.

Just over 6 months on, we’ve highlighted the good practice we've seen from firms and identified areas for improvement. We’ve also published the Autumn 2023 findings of our small firm survey.

We’ve seen many firms make great progress in the first 6 months. However, there are areas where firms could do better. We expect firms to consider our good and poor practice findings, address any gaps, and continue to make improvements in line with good practice.

We’re also looking ahead to 31 July 2024, when the Duty comes into force for closed products. Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumers and Competition, has given a speech addressing some of the challenges firms are facing and making it clear that firms need to have a roadmap to comply by the deadline. We will be issuing further communications on closed products in the weeks ahead.

Reducing and preventing financial crime is a key priority for us. It costs firms and consumers, affecting its victims both financially and emotionally, damages the integrity of our markets and undermines our international competitiveness.

This month we’ve published ‘Reducing and preventing financial crime’ an update on the progress we’ve made alongside firms and partners over the past 18 months.

We’ve identified 4 areas of focus where further collaboration can make a difference:

Data and Technology: firms and partners should be bolder and more collaborative in how they engage with new technologies to keep up with emerging risks.

Collaboration: sharing data and intelligence is vital. We strongly encourage firms and cross-sector partners to participate in data-sharing initiatives and explore the latest advances in data-sharing technology.

Awareness: raising consumer awareness is essential to combatting financial crime. We ask firms to consider if they are doing all they can to alert their customers to relevant fraud risks.

Metrics: we need to know that what we are doing is working. We encourage firms to consider how their interventions contribute towards a reduction in financial crime.

We’ve also called on social media platforms to do more to tackle harmful organic content which illegally promotes scams. Our objective is to support a system-wide approach to tackling financial crime, including public and private partners. As always, your effort is vital.

Wholesale Data Market Study

We have published the findings of our wholesale data market study which examined competition in the markets for credit ratings data, benchmarks and market data vendor services.

We have ruled out a significant intervention because of potential unintended consequences, such as on the availability and quality of data, in a market relied upon by investors worldwide.

However, across all 3 markets, we have seen areas where competition does not work well. Users may be paying higher prices for the data they buy than if competition was working more effectively.

We will take forward ideas to help support wholesale data being available on fair, reasonable and transparent terms as part of our work to ‘repeal and replace’ assimilated EU law.

We will continue to consider allegations of anti-competitive conduct in all markets including in wholesale data markets and have powers to tackle this under the Competition Act.

When complying with our rules, CMCs can deliver wider benefits to society including by helping raise awareness of the opportunity to claim and acting as an additional check and balance on the redress system.

We expect all firms to take account of our findings of this multi-firm work and make necessary changes.

The key changes are on our webpage.

From the Spring, applicants will use the improved form for any new applications but any outstanding drafts using the old version will remain accessible until they are submitted. Firms that already have access should use the new version for all applications from now on.

The next form to be updated is the one for Sensitive Business Names which will be available for testing shortly.

Firms that didn’t apply for this permission by 7 February 2024 are now subject to a restriction which means they cannot approve promotions for unauthorised persons (subject to exemptions). Firms are still able to apply for this permission, but they will not be able to approve promotions within the scope of the requirement for permission unless and until their application is granted.

Our Register has been updated to provide information about the ability of firms to approve financial promotions for unauthorised persons.

We are also publishing a report, under Article 23E of the Benchmark Regulation, setting out our how 3-month synthetic sterling LIBOR has met our consumer protection and integrity objectives.

Firms with contracts still referencing LIBOR are encouraged to act now to transition to robust, appropriate reference rates, re-negotiating with counterparties where necessary.

Market participants must also ensure they are prepared for final synthetic US dollar LIBOR settings to end in September 2024.

When submitting your REP025:

• check for typos and inaccuracies before you submit 
• include complaints data only for Appointed Representatives with complaints in the relevant reporting period.

Your REP025 must be sent within 60 business days of your accounting reference date (ARD) or you’ll receive a late return notification and £250 administration fee.

See our FAQs for more guidance on how to complete your REP025.

Firm Details Attestations must be completed within 60 business days of your accounting reference date (ARD).

Failure to report will incur a late return notification, £250 late return fee, and possible enforcement action.

Find out more about how to attest your AR/IAR details.

Overseas Funds Regime: EEA Equivalence Assessment

The UK Government has announced that it has found the European Economic Area (EEA) member states equivalent for the purposes of the Overseas Funds Regime (OFR). The equivalence decision applies to UCITS funds domiciled in the EEA, except funds authorised as Money Market Funds. We will publish a road map shortly outlining what EEA fund operators within the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime (TMPR), or new EEA entrants, need to do to take advantage of the OFR.

The Government also announced that it is considering whether to extend the UK's forthcoming Sustainability Disclosure Regime (SDR) to OFR recognised funds.

Additionally, we published CP23/26, proposing new rules and guidance to put the OFR into operation. Following this Consultation, we will be implementing final rules to put the OFR into operation later this year.

We have launched this year’s FCA and Practitioner Panel survey. It gathers feedback from firms on how we are doing in regulating the industry.

The survey is carried out on our behalf by Verian, an independent social research organisation. They will send the survey to all fixed firms and a sample of flexible firms. If you are one of the firms selected to complete the survey, please take the time to provide us with your valuable feedback. We’ve made the survey shorter compared to previous years to make it easier to respond.

• Maximal Extractable Value is the value gained from strategically ordering transactions submitted to the blockchain. This is done by leveraging the transparency of the blockchain system. 
• Blockchain oracles connect a blockchain to real-world information. This means applications running on the blockchain can access more information and increase their capabilities.

We developed the research together with academics and industry experts to help develop and share regulatory expertise and understanding. We encourage more research to help advance regulatory thinking in this ever-developing space.

Following our intervention with FCA authorised firms, 10,008 financial adverts were amended or withdrawn which is an increase of 17%, compared to 8,582 in 2022.

For unauthorised firms and individuals, we issued 2,286 alerts in 2023, an increase of 21% from 1,882 in 2022.

Read the Financial promotions data 2023 and Financial promotions quarterly data 2023 Q4 for more.

The proposals are part of our wider work to strengthen the UK’s position as a global and financial centre and facilitate sustainable growth of the UK economy.