| Link(s): Financial regulators publish third edition of plan for upcoming work | FCA Regulatory Initiatives Grid | FCA Regulatory Initiatives Grid – May 2021 (fca.org.uk) |
Context
The Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum has issued the third edition of the Regulatory Initiatives Grid, the publication of which marks the end of a successful one-year pilot exercise. The FCA, in this Grid publication, is setting out the planned regulatory initiatives for the next 24 months, and it is pleased to confirm that the Forum will continue. The FCA intends to keep publishing the Grid twice a year.
The Grid sets out the regulatory pipeline so the financial services industry and other stakeholders can understand – and plan for – the timing of the initiatives that may have a significant operational impact on them. The FCA expects the format of the Grid to remain fairly settled, but asks firms to continue to get in touch at FSRIFSecretariat@fca.org.uk if they have any feedback.
Upcoming work in the latest iteration includes:
- Eight new environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives;
- The Bank of England and FCA’s work to transform data collection;
- HM Treasury’s Future Regulatory Framework Review; and
- The Pensions Regulator’s work to introduce a single code of practice to make its expectations simpler and easier to understand.
The Financial Reporting Council has also now joined the Forum and will be contributing towards the Grid for the first time. The Forum is comprised of the Bank of England (including the Prudential Regulation Authority), Financial Conduct Authority, Payment Systems Regulator, Competition and Markets Authority, the Pensions Regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Reporting Council, with HM Treasury attending as an observer member.
Key points to note
- The Grid sets out the regulatory pipeline so the financial services industry and other stakeholders can understand – and plan for – the timing of the initiatives that may have a significant operational impact on them.
- The FCA has also published the Grid in the form of an interactive dashboard and an Excel spreadsheet to help users interact with the underlying data.
- This edition of the Grid contains 128 initiatives, an increase on the 111 in the second edition published in September 2020.
- The Grid is organised by sector. It includes a ‘Multi-Sector’ chapter that covers initiatives that span more than one sector.
- The sector specific chapters cover: Banking, Credit and Lending; Payment Services and Systems and Market Infrastructures; Insurance and Reinsurance; Pensions and Retirement Income; Retail Investments; Investment Management; Wholesale Financial Markets.
- The multi-sector initiatives (of which there are seven) include financial resilience, operational resilience and conduct.
- Financial resilience and conduct also feature as specific initiatives for the Banking, Credit and Lending sector.
- The insurance and reinsurance section contains eight initiatives, but only one of these (pricing practices) is likely to impact the insurance distribution population.
Next actions
Firms should review the relevant areas of the Grid.