The regulator found many examples of good practice, but also published further guidance and case studies to help firms address areas for improvement.
By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins
On 7 March 2025, the FCA published findings from its review of firms’ treatment of vulnerable customers, along with new examples of good practice and areas for improvement. The regulator then ran an event on 11 March to discuss these findings. The review
A review of fund and portfolio managers found a number of good practices, but also revealed the need for improvement in areas such as conflict management.
By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins
On 5 March 2025, the FCA published the findings from its review of private market valuation practices. The FCA undertook this review due to the growing importance of private markets and concerns that robust valuation practices need to be implemented to ensure trust and confidence in these markets. The FCA highlights that effective valuation practices are needed to counterbalance the fact that valuations in private markets are less transparent than in public markets, and potentially susceptible to vulnerabilities such as conflicts of interest.
The FCA reviewed the robustness of valuation processes by firms managing funds or providing portfolio management and/or advisory services in the UK for private equity, venture capital, private debt, and infrastructure assets. This involved sending a questionnaire to a sample of 36 firms, and then conducting an in-depth review of governance and processes in relation to a sub-set of these firms.
Speech focuses on the regulatory change agenda, and confirms that firms are no longer expected to have a Consumer Duty board champion.
By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins
On 27 February 2025, the FCA published a speech given by Nikhil Rathi, in which he talks about the FCA’s efforts to support the government’s growth agenda. This follows a difficult few months for the regulator, in which it has come under increasing pressure from the government and individual Parliamentary groups and committees, from various angles.
In this publication and podcast series, we explore some of the core focus areas for UK-regulated financial services firms in the year ahead.
In 2024, we saw disruption to the regulatory reform agenda as the unexpected timing of the general election impacted work and publication schedules. Now that the reform agenda is back on track and aligned to the new government’s plans for growth, we are likely to see improved progress on existing reforms as well as fresh initiatives in the pursuit of growth during 2025.
There is doubtless a strong focus on retail markets under the new government, but the UK’s competitiveness as a place to do business remains vital as improvements to the UK’s wholesale markets continue. ESG and AI continue to dominate across the sector as rapidly evolving areas that profoundly impact the regulatory landscape.
The proposals aim to drive more consistency in operational incident reporting and greater visibility in the use of material third-party services.
By Rob Moulton and Charlotte Collins
On 13 December 2024, the FCA and the PRA published linked Consultation Papers on operational incident and third-party reporting (FCA CP24/28 and PRA CP17/24). The consultations aim to create a structured framework for financial services firms to report operational incidents and material third-party relationships. The proposals will help standardise the information that the regulators receive and enable them to identify systemic problems related to incident and third-party risk management.
The latest guidance from the FCA focuses on Consumer Duty board reports and how firms handle complaints and root cause analysis.
By Becky Critchley and Charlotte Collins
On 11 December 2024, the FCA published two pieces of feedback on the Consumer Duty, setting out good practices and areas for improvement in relation to Consumer Duty board reports and complaints and root cause analysis. These publications have been compiled to share the FCA’s insights on how different firms have started to embed the Consumer Duty across the financial services industry. The FCA aims to assist firms in meeting their Consumer Duty obligations by conducting a range of post-implementation work, as outlined in its Consumer Duty workplan.
Firms will find it particularly helpful to receive guidance on the FCA’s expectations regarding board reports. Previously, firms did not receive a prescribed template and found compiling their first reports challenging, both in terms of form and content. Firms will be keen to understand how they can improve their next board reports and meet FCA expectations.
The FCA is approaching its design of the world’s first regulated private/public crossover market with a “private plus” rather than a “public minus” mindset.
By Mark Austin, Rob Moulton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, Frederick Gardner, and Johannes Poon
On 17 December 2024, the FCA launched a consultation on its proposed regulatory framework for the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) (CP24/29). This consultation follows the publication of HM Treasury’s draft statutory
The regulator has significantly rowed back on aspects of the proposals following industry and government feedback.
By Andrea Monks, Rob Moulton, Nell Perks, Anna James, and Charlotte Collins
On 28 November 2024, the FCA published revised proposals for announcing enforcement investigations. The original consultation, launched in February 2024, proved to be one of the most controversial proposals put forward by the regulator and received an unprecedented response from industry and the government (for more detail on the original proposals, see this Latham blog post). The FCA has attracted a great deal of criticism since the launch of the first consultation, culminating in an evidence session before the House of Lords Financial Regulation Committee a few weeks ago, which made for uncomfortable viewing.
In light of the feedback received, the FCA has made some significant changes to its proposals, and acknowledges that it ought to have handled their communication better by signalling the proposals to the market in advance of their publication. The regulator also acknowledges the importance of considerations around its secondary objective relating to international competitiveness and growth in relation to these proposals.
The UK Chancellor announces a growth-focused agenda for financial services.
By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins
On 14 November 2024, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered her first Mansion House speech. She used her speech as an opportunity to announce reforms designed to drive growth and competitiveness in financial services, stating that many of the regulatory changes introduced to eliminate risk after the financial crisis had “gone too far” and led to unintended consequences. Although she did not announce a swathe of deregulatory measures, this speech sets the tone for how the government will likely approach regulation in the financial services sector going forward.
The regulator has provided an update on the actions taken since its cash savings market review.
By Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins
On 18 September 2024, the FCA provided an update on its work in the cash savings market. Following the FCA’s 2023 cash savings market review in light of concerns that higher interest rates were not being passed on effectively to savers, the regulator has conducted further work, including an in-depth analysis of the profits made on savings accounts and their contribution to overall firm profitability. The FCA has also worked with the largest firms regarding how they are providing fair value to easy access savings customers.