The FCA's 2023/2024 business plan outlines three key priorities: protecting consumers, ensuring market integrity, and promoting competition. Let's take a closer look at each of these priorities.
Protecting Consumers:
Protecting consumers is always a top priority for the FCA, and the 2023/2024 business plan is no exception. The obvious main focus (with a budget of over £5M) is embedding the Consumer Duty across all relevant regulated firms. The FCA plans to focus on three main areas to protect consumers:
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Retail investments - The FCA plans to strengthen its rules around retail investments to better protect consumers. This includes developing new rules around high-risk investments and improving the suitability of advice given to consumers.
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Payments and Digital Currencies - With the rise of digital currencies and new payment methods, the FCA plans to ensure consumers are protected by regulating these areas.
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Consumer Credit - The FCA plans to review its consumer credit regime to ensure it is fit for purpose and provides adequate protection to consumers.
Ensuring Market Integrity:
Ensuring market integrity is essential for maintaining a fair and transparent financial system. The FCA's plans to ensure market integrity focus on two main areas:
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Financial Crime - The FCA will continue to focus on preventing financial crime, including money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud.
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Market Abuse - The FCA plans to focus on preventing market abuse, including insider trading, market manipulation, and benchmark manipulation.
Promoting Competition:
Promoting competition is essential for creating a healthy and diverse financial industry. The FCA's plans to promote competition focus on three main areas:
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Open Finance - The FCA will work with the industry to develop open finance standards and promote competition in the sector.
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Digital Markets - The FCA will focus on regulating digital markets to ensure competition is not restricted.
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Innovation - The FCA plans to continue to support innovation in the financial industry to promote competition and benefit consumers.
In addition to these three key priorities, the FCA's 2023/2024 business plan also includes plans to improve its own capabilities and ensure it is fit for purpose through data metrics.
In conclusion, the FCA's 2023/2024 business plan outlines its priorities for the upcoming year, focusing on protecting consumers, ensuring market integrity, and promoting competition. The plan shows that there is plenty of hard work ahead for market participants to continue to comply with the FCA's commitment to creating a fair and transparent financial industry that benefits everyone.
Written in partnership ChatGPT
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