On 24 April 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced plans to simplify its process for providing firms with supervisory communications.
The FCA explains that it is making these changes as part of its Consumer Duty requirements review, with the aim of streamlining how it sets its supervisory priorities to support its commitment to smarter, more effective regulation.
The changes will involve:
- No longer issuing and publishing portfolio letters with effect from 30 April 2025. Instead, the FCA will publish a small number of market reports which will include communications relevant to different types of firms and insights from its supervisory work.
- Retiring historical portfolio letters and Dear CEO letters. These will be clearly marked as ‘historical’ and no longer current (with a few exceptions), although they will remain publicly accessible using their existing links.
Next steps
Until the FCA publishes its market reports later in 2025, firms should continue to refer to relevant portfolio letters and Dear CEO letters for guidance. The FCA plans to continue reviewing its approach to other historical communications and will consider how it can routinely review outdated material.
The FCA notes that Dear CEO letters will still be used to address senior people management about significant issues that require action.