UK’s FCA Plans to Retire Outdated Guidance to Streamline Regulation
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority plans to retire more than 100 pages of outdated guidance, withdraw hundreds of supervisory publications and take other steps to reduce burdens on businesses and improve outcomes for consumers.
The regulator proposed these steps after receiving feedback from industry and others in response to a Call for Input it issued in July, asking how it can simplify its Consumer Duty rules, according to a Tuesday (March 25) press release.
The Consumer Duty rules, which were published in July 2022 and went into full force in July 2024, set standards for consumer protection across financial services.
“Now [that] the Consumer Duty is in full force, we’re making changes quickly where stakeholders want us to, to cut unnecessary costs, support growth and ultimately help consumers get better outcomes,” Sarah Pritchard, executive director of supervision, policy, competition and international at the FCA, said in the release.
By retiring outdated guidance, the FCA aims to make it easier for consumer finance, investment and mortgage firms to navigate regulations, according to the release.
The FCA will consider modifying its disclosure rules to give firms more flexibility in how they communicate with customers and will review whether businesses must apply U.K. rules for their customers outside the country, the release said.
The regulator outlined its plans in a Feedback Statement, FS25/2, released Tuesday. The FCA will consult with stakeholders on these proposals, hold an in-person summit during the summer and publish a full program outline in September, according to its action plan.
“These proposals are part of our long-term efforts to future-proof our rules, reduce burdens for financial firms and will help the ambitious government targets to cut the cost of regulation,” Pritchard said in the release.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans March 11 to abolish another agency, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), as part of a broader government effort to streamline regulation while it focuses on small businesses as well as the larger business climate.
The PSR will be consolidated into the FCA.
The PSR and the FCA were among the U.K. financial authorities that said in December that they were working to improve their cooperation on the government’s National Payments Vision, which aims to support the payments sector in delivering economic growth.
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