|
|
It is great to be here again at this important event. It doesn’t seem long ago that I was last telling this audience about our plans to transform the FCA.
To be more rigorous on firms seeking approval to operate in our markets, to tailor our rules to better suit our global markets and play a leadership role in supporting the market-led transition to a more sustainable economy.
We are being tougher on firms causing harm. We launched the first ever criminal prosecution under anti-money laundering regulations and are acting against individuals carrying out regulated activities without authorisation.
We have empowered more colleagues to take more decisions, so we act faster and are being more proactive even where we don’t have powers, be it by positively engaging with the Government to ensure scams are covered by the Online Safety Bill, or working with Google so they voluntarily changed policy to only permit FCA registered firms to advertise financial promotions with them.
Following our engagement, Meta have now promised to do the same this year. We look forward to seeing them deliver and await clearer plans from Twitter and others.
To truly transform we must continue building an operational platform that can adapt and facilitate collaboration, with the human capabilities to harness a data-led approach.
That is the only way we can effectively face the threats and opportunities, be it market abuse, digitalisation of financial services, cost of living challenges or ESG reforms.
Our economy already faced rising inflation on the back of the economic recovery emerging from the pandemic. War was then visited on Ukraine by Russia, with the resulting aftershock for commodity and agricultural prices, rippling down to wholesale markets, firms and consumers.
Inflation is set to reach a 40 year high this year with energy bills rising much faster than wages. Those least able to bear the rises will be hit the hardest.
Our own data shows that over a quarter of UK adults have low financial resilience. Cost of living challenges mean consumers are more exposed to risk while also being more reliant on financial services.
So our focus is on ensuring all firms we oversee act in their customers’ interests.
Our three-year strategy, published earlier this month, sets out market-wide outcomes we expect all firms to deliver, while holding ourselves to tougher standards.
We are stopping firms with inadequate controls from entering our markets. One in seven applicants currently do not obtain authorisation, up from one in 13.
We’re now hiring another 80 colleagues to focus on the most problematic firms, already in our markets, going further to remove more quickly those firms that can’t or won’t meet basic standards. And setting and testing higher standards, where needed.
Our New Consumer Duty is progressing well, with final proposals coming in July. This is designed to ensure firms take account of the actual impact of their services and product suitability on consumers.
Selling someone the right product with suitable customer service is uncontroversial but, too often, established firms don’t.
I want to thank the many business leaders who have engaged positively with us as we develop this significant policy change and assess its impact which will include:
We envisage fewer future rule changes as a result, which should lower costs to firms.
Changing our operating model has been vital in our response to the war in Ukraine. We moved fast to respond to the introduction of a range of globally coordinated sanctions.
We are becoming more capable of working through solutions at extremely short notice, working hand in glove with domestic and international partners.
We will publish proposals allowing the exceptional use of side pockets in investment funds, given the challenges of disposing of Russian and Belarussian assets.
Our work with the Bank of England and others made sure we could effectively monitor volatile commodity markets and as we both saw with London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear, take assertive action where necessary.
LME has since agreed to appoint additional independent directors to strengthen its governance.
As the world is looking to financial markets to enable the transition to a greener and more sustainable economy, international collaboration has never been more vital.
As a regulator, we have been mandated by the government to help firms transition to net zero and asked to take into account Government policy in relation to energy security.
We are supporting international partners who are beginning to mandate climate related disclosures while we continue to build on the changes we introduced here last January. ...
more at FCA