FCA commits to reducing regulatory burden facing UK businesses in the face of recession

At City and Financial Global’s ‘The Future of UK Financial Services Regulation’ Summit, Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director, Markets for the FCA, spoke about the importance of reducing the regulatory burden on businesses, to support innovation, agility and robustness in the face of a recession and other economic issues.

One of the commitments made by the FCA includes speeding up some of its decision-making, particularly when it comes to authorisations. The FCA will also provide more regulatory certainty, becoming a more outcome-focused regulator. This deliberate approach was outlined in its recent three-year strategy.

In her speech, Pritchard also acknowledged a new commitment to innovation, referencing its Regulatory Sandbox and early and high-growth oversight approach, announced earlier this year. The FCA also aims to support 300 newly-authorised businesses by next spring and are running webinars to support firms as they tackle key issues.

As we move forward in a post-Brexit world, the FCA will support the Government’s ambition, under the Future Regulatory Framework, to ensure that it can tailor rules to suit UK markets, creating a flexible, agile and effective regulatory landscape that can adapt to economic burdens and market change.

Expert on regulatory issues, Dr. Henry Balani, Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs, for Encompass Corporation commented:

“The UK is heading towards an economic recession, with the impact of the current climate already being widely felt across business operations. As we move forward, banks must maintain a level of continuity in the service that they provide in order to meet customer expectations. This means that keeping up with the ever-changing regulatory landscape could be considered an increasing burden on already stretched teams.

“It is therefore encouraging to see the FCA committing to reforming its processes, specifically calling out its focus on supporting innovation and growth, and providing regulatory certainty by responding quickly to changes in markets. This will go a long way towards ensuring the landscape remains strong amidst the growing number of opportunistic financial criminals attempting to take advantage of overworked systems and processes.

“Now, more than ever, every organisation has a role to play in tackling the issue of financial crime by prioritising compliance. By adopting innovative RegTech solutions, financial institutions can guarantee continued compliance while speeding up their processes connected to AML and KYC and ultimately reducing the burden on people.”

Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director, Markets for the FCA, said:

“By being focused on outcomes – rather than writing rules for every scenario – we can support new businesses and entrants to the market, as well as existing firms who are adapting their business models. Firms want to know what we want from them and what is needed. We aim to give that certainty and clarity.

“…Technological and market structure changes mean that this perimeter has become more ambiguous, with some firms uncertain on the regulatory permissions they need. We hope that this draft guidance, which we are seeking industry views on, will give as much certainty as possible under the current legal framework.”

To learn more about Encompass and its corporate KYC automation platform, click here.