On 12 March 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its latest Regulatory Priorities report which covers mortgages.

Regulatory Priorities reports replace portfolio letters and are published annually. They act as a guide for firms’ boards and chief executives and pull together all that the FCA is doing in a particular area.

The FCA’s mortgages priorities this year include:

  • Improving consumer outcomes under the Mortgage Rule Review. The FCA wants to enable the mortgage market of the future to be a market that can adapt, innovate, and meet consumer needs and expectations, from first-time buyers to those in later life. The FCA expects firms to:
    • Engage with the Mortgage Rule Review and the later life mortgage market study.
    • Share with it any barriers, challenges and risks to delivering innovation in products and services.
  • Encouraging responsible lending and supporting mortgage borrowers in financial difficulty. The FCA expects firms to monitor their affordability assessments to ensure they remain appropriate and deliver good consumer outcomes, including when they are broadening access to mortgages. The FCA expects firms to:
    • Monitor and oversee their affordability assessments to ensure they remain appropriate and deliver good consumer outcomes, including when firms are broadening access.
    • Second charge lenders should review the findings of the FCA’s recent supervisory work on second charge mortgages to ensure that their affordability assessments are robust, and expenditure assessments are realistic for their customers.
    • Support their customers through financial difficulty, including offering appropriate forbearance.
  • Ensuring the quality of advice. The FCA wants to see advisers in intermediary firms and lenders recommending products that are suitable for consumers’ needs. The FCA expects firms to:
    • Make sure advisers recommend products that are suitable for consumers’ needs, including those who are consolidating debt or borrowing into later life.
    • Test consumer outcomes across the customer journey.
    • Second charge advice firms should review the findings of the FCA’s work on second charge mortgages and ensure they are delivering good outcomes. All firms providing advice should review the elements of the findings that relate to record-keeping and quality assurance.

Other areas of focus include:

  • Mortgage and home finance lenders and administrators, and intermediaries.
  • Mortgage intermediaries and incentives.
  • Mortgage intermediaries and appointed representatives.
  • Operational resilience.
  • Senior Managers and Certification Regime.
  • AI.