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FCA Strategy 2025-2030 Summary

Wednesday 26 March 2025

FCA Strategy 2025-2030:

The strategy outlines how the Financial Conduct Authority will work over the next 5 years.

The FCA has chosen to focus on 4 key priorities:

 

  1. To be a smarter regulator
  2. Supporting growth
  3. Helping consumers
  4. Fighting financial crime

The FCA has identified several key opportunities and challenges to 2030, including technological change, economic growth through innovation, significant market volatility due to global uncertainty, challenging financial resilience, and changes to UK demographics; the UK is experiencing an ageing population.

 

A smarter regulator

 

  • The FCA aims to continue to reform how it regulates firms, including taking a more flexible approach to supervision, which is less intense for those “demonstrably seeking to do the right thing”
  • The FCA aims for more firms to have direct contact points with the FCA.
  • Streamlining of supervisory priorities will take place to allow firms to make positive change without regulatory action. Insights from supervisory work will be shared more broadly.
  • Investment in technology, people and systems to allow for more effective handling of caseloads. FCA staff will be supported to gain digital skills, so they are more ‘data fluent and confident’.
  • To digitise and simplify the authorisation process, making it easier to apply, reduce follow-up requests and gather better quality information.
  • To become more proportionate and easier to engage with. They have acknowledged that supplying data can be a significant task.
  • Launch of the ‘My FCA’ – allowing firms to manage regulatory obligations in one place.
  • The FCA will also aim to double the number of colleagues in Leads and Edinburgh to over 1,000 over the next five years.

 

Supporting growth

 

  • Disclosure requirements will change, allowing for widening access to investment opportunities, making it easier for businesses to seek capital, increasing liquidity, and creating the prospect of higher returns for investors.
  • Shifting to a more tech-positive approach will support productivity improvements, leveraging technologies such as AI and machine learning.
  • Integration of the Payment Systems Regulator into the FCA will support the delivery of the National Payments Vision.
  • Building on the success of Open Banking, the FCA will launch Open Finance.
  • Competitiveness of UK financial services will be focused on – reforming rules and reviewing the redress regime.

 

Helping Consumers

 

  • Ensuring trust in financial products will be integral – the FCA will push for better value for money in workplace pensions, as well as changing regulation to encourage longer-term investing.
  • Futureproofing rules to allow for product innovation and widened access.
  • Working with industry, so people get the support and information they need to make decisions for their financial future.
  • A new regulatory regime for people who currently do not access financial advice, allowing people to make the most of their pensions and invest with more confidence.
  • Consumer Duty will underpin helping consumers and will be integral to how financial firms treat their customers, as well as support for the Government in their development of a financial inclusion strategy.

 

Smart data revolution

 

  • Prioritisation of account-to-account payments, giving people more choice.
  • Variable Recurring Payments will be implemented giving people more control over their payments and lower processing fees for businesses.
  • Opening data up through Open Finance will also increase choice and allow for easier personalised support.
  • The right regulatory framework will also allow for further innovation and data-fuelled growth.
  • The FCA will publish a roadmap for Open Finance within a year and rollout out regulatory foundations for Open Finance by the end of 2027.
  • Prioritisation of small business lending

 

Finally, to fight financial crime, the FCA’s strategy includes:

 

  • Continuing to disrupt crime, such as scams, drawing on tools such as public warnings, formal requirements on firms, civil action or criminal prosecution.
  • Focusing its resources on firms seeking to use FCA authorisation as a cover for crime.
  • Working with firms that want to play a role in tackling financial crime.
  • Drawing on strong relationships with domestic law enforcement and regulators, as well as international counterparts to share intelligence and coordinate action.
  • Continue driving awareness of investment and Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.

 

The FCA have also highlighted in their strategy the importance of rebalancing risk. They want to refocus on risks that regulation can address, pushing for informed risk.

The FCA have stated that regulation should be about enabling informed risk to be taken, not eliminate it entirely. As eliminating it completely would stifle innovation and competition within the market, and an open debate is required about the different types of risks. The 3 main areas of focus for the FCA in rebalancing risk are:

  1. Regulatory risk – The FCA has limited resources, so it will need to make decisions and judgments on informed assessment of risk.

 

 

  1. Market and firm risk – Financial firms and markets will always have a degree of risk; the FCA aims to mitigate excessive risk but also balance it with allowing the space to try new things, and for space for the market to evolve.

 

 

  1. Consumer risk – Reforming the financial advice market will allow for more consumers to make better decisions around financial services with differing amounts of risk.