FCA pledges to be more agile and bespoke
The City regulator has pledged to be more agile, more efficient, and bespoke to each firm and sector.
In a speech delivered last week at the CSI/Financial Planning Conference, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) chief operating officer Emily Sheppard said that the regulator is committed to new investment in technology, starting with automated application forms that aim to ensure the applications they receive are complete. This is expected to save time and resources for both the FCA and firms.
This mirrors comments made last month by Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s executive director of markets, who said that “we know we need to do more to speed up some of our decision making.”
Sheppard also announced plans to place more authorised firms into the early and high growth oversight programme, where they will be able to access extra help navigating new regulations.
“At the FCA, we too are moving towards becoming a more innovative, more assertive and more adaptive regulator,” she said.
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“The FCA is no longer the prescriptive organisation of the past and we recognise that there is no one size fits all. We are transforming into an organisation driven by outcomes and clear end goals that is investing in both data and people.”
Fintech leaders have responded to Sheppard’s comments, welcoming the changes at the FCA.
Daniel Layne, chief executive and founder of the fintech company QV Systems said that the changes “will ensure that firms can no longer hide behind a ‘tick box’ approach to business operations, making it a positive move from a consumer perspective, and one which should connect them with a better level of service from their financial service providers.”
Khalid Talukder, co-founder of financial services firm DKK Partners added that a more agile, bespoke FCA “could turbo charge the next generation of financial services firms.”
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