Updated Regulatory Plans Show Increased Consumer Protections and Accountability for the Financial Services Sector
The Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum has published its sixth edition of the Regulatory Initiatives Grid. The Grid sets out the planned regulatory initiatives for the next 24 months from all of the UK’s nine commercial activity regulators, including the FCA. Since its inception the grid has been a very useful indicator of the “direction of travel” within the UK, as it shapes regulatory frameworks post-Brexit. The Grid shows the sweeping impact of the governments’ Edinburgh Reforms, with the Bank of England, Pensions Regulator, FCA and Payments Systems Regulator launching consultations. The planned rollout of the Consumer Duty, which remains 2023’s headline regulatory reform, is untouched.
Changes to regulation are an inevitability in the UK after Brexit, with the latest Regulatory Initiatives Grid demonstrating this approach. The majority of the plans aims to increase transparency, strengthen consumer rights and hold asset-management firms to higher reporting standards. The long-awaited consumer duty represents perhaps the most potent example of this, pushing firms to reassess their marketing, product governance arrangements and customer service for retail clients. Elsewhere, the PRA have pencilled in a consultation this summer on widening the rights of ‘non-shareholding stakeholders’ in banks, hinting at a ramp-up of depositors’ rights in the UK, a timely decision in the fallout of SVB’s collapse and UBS’ takeover of Credit Suisse.
