There was clear feedback from industry that now is not the time for widespread changes to our rules, but we intend to take quick action where stakeholders want us to.

We will:

• Make it easier to navigate regulations for mortgages, investment and consumer finance firms by planning to retire more than 100 pieces of outdated guidance. 
• Make clear hundreds of historic supervisory publications are withdrawn and no longer reflect our expectations.
• Review prescriptive disclosure requirements to give firms more flexibility to tailor communications to customers' needs and preferences, like online and digital transactions.
• Revisit rules for businesses with customers outside the UK, for example looking at whether insurance firms need to apply UK rules for overseas customers.
• Consult on addressing confusing, outdated or conflicting Handbook requirements.

We know firms are concerned about the speed and cost of regulatory change. To make sure we get this right, we’ll continue engaging with industry over the coming months, so any changes are made in a proportionate, predictable way that enables firms to deliver the maximum benefits for consumers.

Once signed in, you’ll be able to see your scheduled regulatory reporting and attestation tasks in one place.

My FCA also provides useful information and updates, gathered from Connect, RegData and the Online Invoicing System, as well as recently published regulatory updates.

The design and implementation of My FCA is a key milestone of the Transforming Data Collection programme, a joint programme between us and the Bank of England. The programme has listened to firm feedback and worked with firms to develop My FCA with an aim of reducing the burden of regulatory reporting.

What users need to know: My FCA uses your existing sign in credentials to access Connect, RegData and our Online Invoicing System. Once signed in, you will have direct access to these systems, without the need to sign in again. You can view a task list of your scheduled regulatory reporting and attestations, with direct access to the forms.

We encourage you to add My FCA - https://myfca.fca.org.uk - to your allow list of trusted website addresses before 31 March.

Our review shows some firms are making a real difference by supporting and responding flexibly to meet often complex and highly individual needs, which helps to build trust.

But most firms can do more. Particularly when they are designing products and services, and by monitoring and taking action where vulnerable customers are experiencing worse outcomes than others.

We hope our findings provide the extra insight industry is asking to help firms deliver good outcomes for customers in vulnerable circumstances.

We want to make sure the UK is the best place in the world for financial services to thrive while maintaining our high standards. Firms that provide good quality applications will move quicker through our assessment process. To help with this we’ve included lots of guidance on how to prepare a strong application, what firms should have ready as they apply, and what levels of due diligence and disclosures we expect. We’ve also shared what good looks like and provided case studies on what supporting documents we might want to see and why.

In addition, we’ve offered insight into how we assess SMF applications to show the consistent approach and rationale we use to determine the level of scrutiny we apply to every application. We’ve also provided easy access and updated forms for changing an approval status.

We welcome applications from firms for candidates who are currently based overseas and from those currently working in other industry sectors. Here too, we offer guidance on what we expect a firm to demonstrate in their application.

We also announced, jointly with the PRA, that we have no plans to take our diversity and inclusion work further. This is in light of the broad range of feedback received, expected legislative developments and to avoid additional burdens on firms at this time.

We are taking some further time to make sure our work on non-financial misconduct is proportionate and aligned with planned legislation. We will set out next steps by the end of June this year.

We are reminding lenders of flexibility in rules, which can help more people access a mortgage. This forms part of the work, announced in our January letter to the Prime Minister, to review regulation to support home ownership and the UK economy.

In the months ahead, we will consult on early ideas to simplify rules and benefit mortgage consumers. We want to make it easier for consumers to remortgage with a new lender, discuss their options outside a regulated advice process and reduce their mortgage term.

We will also open a public discussion on the future of the mortgage market. We want to consider what the market needs to deliver for different consumers at different stages in their lives and the wider UK economy, and the role of regulation to deliver it.

Our review will particularly interest sell-side wholesale firms trading on their own behalf and/or offering their clients access to primary and secondary markets in securities, metals, energy, and commodities. This includes commodity clearing brokers, principal trading firms (PTF) trading in commodities, inter-dealer brokers, and contracts-for-differences firms.

Firms generally demonstrated good practice in areas such as investor reporting, process documentation and use of third-party valuation advisers, and were consistently applying valuation methodologies.

However, we found areas where firms need to improve. These included the need for better identification and documentation of potential conflicts of interest in the valuation process, increased independence within firms’ own valuation processes, and incorporating defined processes for ad hoc valuations.

We encourage you to read our findings and make improvements to your valuation processes where appropriate.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said:

'Mr Pearse and Mr Singh were experienced executives at Credit Suisse who admit to having received over US$50m in kickbacks. There is no place in our markets for those who engage in bribery and corruption.’

From April 2025 wholesale firms seeking to apply for new firm authorisation can find the financial data collection template on CONNECT. This will be in the list of documents you need to prepare and submit for your application. The template should be completed alongside the financial questions in other forms you need to submit with your application.

We’ve seen indications of good outcomes for consumers and relatively few complaints. But there are concerns that commissions used to sell these products may affect the outcomes consumers receive and the products’ value or design.

We committed to looking into the sector in further detail in August last year, but before launching, took feedback from the market on the terms of reference, which we’ve published this month.

If your firm is registered with Companies House and you haven’t already, please update your details via the Companies House website as soon as possible. The new form will use the registered name, registered address, and financial year-end held by Companies House as the official record for your firm.

We’re also making the following changes:

• Strengthening the validation process for all existing fields on the form.
• Verifying email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses.
• Improving guidance, navigation, and accessibility.

This is an opportunity to help shape our work at a time of significant change in UK financial services regulation.

The deadline for applications is 11.59pm on Monday, 28 April 2025.

Please see more information on how to apply and further information about the SBPP.

The table in DISP 3.7.4 has been updated to show the maximum awards the Ombudsman may make. The next adjustment will be considered after the CPI figures for January 2026 have been released.

Firms’ approaches to embedding the Duty vary depending on their business, size and circumstances. These findings provide extra insight for firms as they continue to evolve their approach to the consumer support outcome.

We’ve published information outlining when and how to apply for a registration code, what to expect after you apply and the next steps in the process.

Key findings include:

• In the latest 3-month period (November 2024 to January 2025) around 280,000 mortgages locked into a new deal up to 6 months ahead of maturity; this compares to around 377,000 mortgages in the previous 3-month period (August to October 2024).
• Around 164,000 mortgages have temporarily reduced monthly payments via the new FCA rules.

The data we publish includes:

• The outstanding value of all residential loans.
• Total gross advances by loan-to-value and income multiples.
• Value of new commitments.
• Proportion of mortgage loans above Bank Rate.

The value of gross mortgage advances increased by 4.9% from the previous quarter to £68.8 billion, the highest new advances since 2022 Q4, and was 29.9% higher than a year earlier.

Our news and publications alerts keep you up to date with our press releases, speeches, statements, consultations, guidance, notices and decisions.

We will explore key themes, with a focus on small and flexible portfolio firms, including:

• Insights on industry progress so far.
• Latest examples of good practice and areas for improvement across sectors.
• How firms should apply the Duty proportionately, based on their size and circumstances.
• What our new 5-year strategy means for firms.

Register here.