On 23 March 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a new webpage to help firms get ready for the new rule and guidance to tackle non-financial misconduct (NFM), explaining what firms should do before the changes come into effect on 1 September 2026.

The webpage states that NFM includes behaviour that is not of a clearly financial nature such as bullying, harassment and violence and reminds firms that NFM is covered by the FCA’s requirements under the following:

  1. Code of Conduct (COCON) rules – A new rule, COCON 1.1.7FR, will extend the scope of the conduct rules in non-banking firms to cover bullying, harassment or violence against colleagues, where it relates to an individual’s role. The new rule will apply where there is a sufficient work-related link.
  2. Fit and Proper test (FIT) – FIT already allows firms to consider any relevant misconduct, wherever it occurs, when assessing fitness and propriety. The new COCON rule focuses on certain work-related misconduct, while new FIT guidance (see below) clarifies how firms can take a broader range of NFM into account when assessing fitness and propriety.
  3. New guidance – The FCA has published new Handbook guidance (PS25/23) to help firms apply COCON and FIT.

The new rule and guidance will come into effect on 1 September 2026. Before then, firms should review whether they need to update their approach to: (i) staff policies; (ii) conduct breach reporting; (iii) fit and proper assessments; and (iv) regulatory references. Firms should also ensure that staff and managers understand how the changes apply to them.

The FCA also expressly states that firms do not need to: (i) carry out retrospective analysis to check whether they correctly determined past conduct rule breaches; (ii) revise past fitness and propriety assessments; (iii) monitor employees’ private lives or social media accounts; (iv) investigate allegations about employees’ private lives if they are trivial, implausible or irrelevant; or (v) do anything contrary to privacy, employment or other relevant law.

For further information on the incoming changes in this area, and what key actions firms should be taking as we move towards 1 September 2026, please see our recent NFM webinar and briefing.