FCA Compliance

This article argues that having a compliance advocate at board level is not just a token gesture to satisfy regulators, but a strategic necessity.

What happens when compliance is absent or ignored in the boardroom? In short, regulatory blind spots multiply and the risks – both to customers and the firm – escalate.

Giving compliance a seat at the board table is about baking in long-term resilience. It’s about making your business stronger and more sustainable.

The FCA, alongside the publication of its new 5-year strategy for 2025 to 2030, has set out the outcomes and metrics it wants to achieve for consumers, markets and the wider economy.

As part of ‘reducing the regulatory burden’, and as outlined in its letter to the Prime Minister in January this year, the FCA has outlined the first steps in its plans to review Handbook provisions.

Which? has published updated research information in relation to insurer premium finance interest rates in home and motor insurance, continuing to put pressure on the FCA whilst the regulator undertakes its premium finance Market Study.

The FCA has published a statement confirming that, if it is shown that motor finance customers have lost out from widespread failings by authorised firms, it is likely to consult on a formal industry redress scheme.

The FCA and PRA have announced proposed rules to improve diversity and inclusion in firms will be axed, whilst the FCA issued a further update confirming plans to increase the transparency of enforcement investigations are to be dropped.

In a review which examined how firms support customers in vulnerable circumstances, the FCA noted many firms were unable to monitor or act on outcomes for customers and had failed to make sufficient progress on product and service design and training front-line staff.