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3to2 - 10 Key Focus Areas For Financial Services Firms 2025_alev-takil-7ojyp-IXW7w-unsplash_50034

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.

Big Ben London England by Night

When the Edinburgh Reforms were announced on 9 December 2022, they were billed as an ambitious set of reforms. Two years on, we assess which of the measures have been completed, which remain outstanding, and whether they have delivered on the agenda set out.

We also reflect on the recent Mansion House announcements, which have reset the future of regulatory reform.

Read the full report.

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IT teams will want to contribute to the debate over the FCA’s proposed changes, which could introduce additional complexities and lead to major IT costs for firms.

By Rob Moulton and Becky Critchley

On 15 November 2024, the FCA issued a Discussion Paper on improving the UK transaction reporting regime (DP24/2). The FCA receives seven billion transaction reports a year on 20 million different reportable financial instruments, and firms find submitting such reports accurately a difficult, costly, and…

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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.

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Despite some adjustments to the proposed guardrails, the FCA has largely retained its original approach.

By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Sean Wells, and Charlotte Collins

On 26 July 2024, the FCA published its final rules on payment optionality for investment research (PS24/9). The FCA consulted on these changes in April 2024 (see this Latham blog post), proposing to introduce additional optionality for buy-side firms by permitting them to use bundled payments for research and…

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The FCA is proposing to allow asset managers to rebundle payments for third-party research and trade execution.

By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, and Charlotte Collins

On 10 April 2024, the FCA published its much-anticipated Consultation Paper on payment optionality for investment research (CP24/7). The Investment Research Review made a series of recommendations in the summer of 2023 to help boost the UK investment research market, which the government committed to taking forward (see this Latham blog post).

Cloudless day at financial district of London

Fighting financial crime, protecting consumers’ needs, and bolstering wholesale markets are the regulator’s key priorities for the year ahead.

By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins

On 19 March 2024, the FCA published its Business Plan for 2024/25, setting out its priorities for the year ahead. While the Business Plan now takes on less significance than it did historically given other publications in circulation such as the FCA’s 3-year Strategy and the Regulatory…

Aerial cityscape over London city at sunrise

This annual publication explores some of the core focus areas for UK-regulated financial services firms in the year ahead. 2023 saw significant progress on the regulatory reform agenda, and many measures consulted on or reviewed as part of the Edinburgh Reforms will be finalised and/or implemented in the course of 2024.

We also saw the passing of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, many provisions of which have already come into effect and have made important changes to the…

As the pace of reform increases, we take a look at key developments and the timeline ahead.

Significant progress has been made on the Edinburgh Reforms since they were announced in December 2022, with developments gathering pace before the summer break. Given the breadth and speed of the reforms, now is a good time to take stock of where things stand and what we can expect in the months ahead. In this publication, we highlight some of the key developments and set out expected dates for future progress.

The Review recommends scrapping research unbundling, but also proposes a range of other changes to the UK research landscape.

By Rob Moulton, Chris Horton, Sean Wells, Charlotte Collins, and Johannes Poon

On 10 July 2023, HM Treasury published the final report produced by the independent UK Investment Research Review (Review). The Review was launched on 9 March 2023 to examine the link between levels of research and the UK’s attractiveness as a destination for companies to access capital (please see Latham’s previous blog post for the background to the Review).

The report makes seven recommendations which the government has committed to taking forward. While the recommendation to remove the research unbundling requirements was expected, the Review has taken a more holistic approach and the report puts forward wide-ranging suggestions for improving the UK investment research landscape. The recommendations are summarised below.