LONDON: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a new strategy to enhance outcomes for consumers and in markets all through the UK.
As the FCA’s remit is broad and growing, the three-year technique prioritises resources to prevent serious harm, set higher requirements and promote competition. The regulator will also, for the primary time, maintain itself accountable against published outcomes and efficiency metrics.
A key focus of the technique is shutting down problem firms, which don’t meet basic regulatory standards. The FCA is recruiting eighty employees to work on the initiative, which will protect consumers from potential fraud, poor treatment and create a greater market.
In the event of the strategy, the FCA has calculated that for each pound spent on its operations, consumers and small companies profit by at least £11. The regulator has additionally considered the rising cost of living, which could drive greater demand for credit score merchandise and lead consumers to search for new methods to handle and make extra of their money. The FCA will proceed to work closely with the UK Government and Bank of England in response to the war in Ukraine.
The technique builds on actions launched final July, when Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, dedicated the regulator to become extra innovative, assertive and adaptive and transform the FCA right into a data-led platform that may face the threats and alternatives of the future.
This approach led to the FCA reforming the general insurance coverage market, saving consumers an anticipated £4.2bn over 10 years; main the transition from LIBOR; serving to small companies declare £1.3bn against enterprise interruption insurance coverage cover; bringing its first ever criminal prosecution under anti-money laundering regulations, with NatWest fined £264m; and defending consumers from scams by stopping unauthorised firms from promoting monetary merchandise on Google.
Nikhil Rathi said: “Our new technique enables the FCA to reply extra quickly to the quickly altering monetary services sector. It will give us a basis to continuously enhance for the profit of our stakeholders, and reply swiftly to financial and geopolitical developments.”