On April 9, 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority published its Business Plan for 2018/19 which sets out its key priorities for the coming year. The FCA confirms that it will continue to focus on issues relating to the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU by working with the Government, ensuring appropriate transition measures for EEA firms, working towards operational readiness and cooperating at international level.
The FCA divides the remainder of its priorities into cross-sector priorities and sector priorities. There are seven cross-sector priorities: firms' culture and governance; financial crime and anti-money laundering; data security, resilience and outsourcing; innovation, big data, technology and competition; treatment of existing customers; long-term savings, pensions and intergenerational differences; and high-cost credit.
There are seven sector priority areas: wholesale financial markets; investment management; retail lending; pensions and retirement income; retail investments; retail banking; and general insurance and protection. The FCA also published Sector Views for each of these sectors which provide an FCA view of how each sector was performing as of mid-2017.
Some of the key activities that the FCA will undertake are:
- finalizing the rules to extend the Senior Managers and Certification Regimes to all firms and establishing a public register;
- tackling money laundering and reviewing money laundering in capital markets;
- assessing operational resilience to cyber attacks and assessing the risks of outsourcing and third-party providers;
- publishing new crowdfunding rules;
- reviewing cryptocurrencies;
- publishing its approach to market integrity;
- publishing final rules and its approach to industry codes of conduct for unregulated markets;
- finalizing rule changes arising from the Asset Management Market Study; and
- working with HM Treasury to develop a new prudential regime for investment firms authorized under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments package.
The FCA also published a consultation paper on its fees and levies for 2018/19 alongside the Business Plan as well as a discussion paper on its approach to developing an ex post impact evaluation framework.
The FCA's Business Plan is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/business-plans/business-plan-2018-19.pdf, the consultation paper is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/consultation/cp18-10.pdf and the Sector Views are available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/sector-views-2018.pdf.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.