Welcome to the UKGI weekly regulation update service for Aviva ABC brokers

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The FCA has launched new Regulatory Priorities reports, starting with the insurance sector. This marks a new approach that will help to transform the FCAs supervision and streamline regulation.

Key points to note

The FCAs annual Regulatory Priorities reports will provide specific key priorities for each sector. These reports are a clearer, more consistent way of communicating the FCAs sector-specific priorities. They will help firms understand what the FCA expect and where to focus.

These reports provide:

• Specific key priorities for each sector.
• Further relevant work that the FCA be undertaking in the next year.

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The FCA has fined seven social media influencers for their role in promoting an unauthorised foreign exchange trading scheme involving Contracts for Differences.

Key points to note and next actions

Biggs Chris, Jamie Clayton, Lauren Goodger, Rebecca Gormley, Yazmin Oukhellou, Scott Timlin and Eva Zapico all pleaded guilty to one count of issuing unauthorised

financial promotions. Of these, fines were issued as follows –

• Lauren Goodger was fined £3,750 and ordered to pay costs of £5,778.18.
• Biggs Chris was fined £600 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000. 
• Jamie Clayton was fined £820 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
• Rebecca Gormley was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £2,866.42.
• Yazmin Oukhellou was fined £974 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.  
• Scott Timlin was fined £938 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
• Eva Zapico was given an absolute discharge and ordered to pay costs of £1,770.44.  

These outcomes demonstrate that the FCA will pursue individuals who communicate unauthorised financial promotions. Firms should ensure that care is taken that social media publications are compliant with the FCA’s expectations, that they meet the “Fair clear and not misleading” principle, and records are kept of all promotional activity to allow any challenge to be responded to.

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The FCA has issued a consultation paper on designating certain credit reference agencies (CRAs). If a lender shares credit information with one designated consumer CRA, it would be required to share it with them all. The changes aim to close gaps in consumers’ credit files and ensure these more accurately reflect people’s financial circumstances.

Key points to note and next actions

Where the information CRAs hold is limited, people may face barriers to accessing credit, or be exposed to increased risks of unaffordable lending, errors or fraud.

The FCA’s proposals aim to improve how credit information is shared across the system, benefitting both consumers and firms.

The FCA is proposing that credit and mortgage firms who currently share consumer credit information with at least one of the credit reference agencies to be designated by the FCA, will be required to share the same information with the other designated agencies. The consultation closes on 1 May 2026.

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The FCA has published its quarterly authorisations metrics data from October to December 2025.

Key points to note and next actions

Q3 2025/26 is the first quarter in which the FCA is reporting against its new targets, which are designed to reduce the authorisation timelines in support of the Government’s growth agenda. The FCA acknowledges the targets are ambitious and will require high performance from its case officers and associated systems.

The report shows that 97% of applications across all metric areas were determined within the new deadlines, and that when considering the existing statutory deadlines, 99.4% of cases were determined within that deadline. Some red / amber metrics related to Approved Person (SM&CR related), New Firm Authorisation and certain Payment Services / E-money Authorisations being determined after the application deadline, where more time had been needed to reach a decision.

The metrics are for FCA-regulated (solo) firms only and the next publication of performance will be in May 2026.

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The ICO has published a joint statement from International Data Protection Authorities on privacy risks of AI-generated imagery. The statement represents the united position of 61 authorities and has been issued in response to serious concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) systems that generate realistic images and videos depicting identifiable individuals without their knowledge and consent.

Key points to note

The ICO are calling on organisations to engage proactively with regulators, implement robust safeguards from the outset, and ensure that technological advancement does not come at the expense of privacy, dignity, safety, and other fundamental rights – particularly for the most vulnerable of our global society.