On 18 July 2019, the FCA published a Feedback Statement 19/04 (FS19/04) summarising the main themes in the submissions received from an earlier Discussion Paper published in October 2018 (see previous blog post) on fair pricing in financial services. In the statement, the FCA provides further clarification on how it will apply its framework on assessing the fairness of a given pricing practice.

The FCA explains that it will focus on operationalising its approach to fair pricing in retail markets as part of its next stage of work. In assessing whether a practice is unfair, the FCA considers that a principles-based approach may be more effective in driving appropriate outcomes. Therefore, the FCA intends to incorporate its work on fair pricing into the review of its principles which will be the first strand of its Handbook Review.

The FCA intends to publish a Discussion Paper on the review of its principles in Q4 2019/20, and will report back on the next phase of its fair pricing work at that time.