On 15 October 2018, the FCA published a Mission Document concerning its approach to competition. In this document the FCA discusses its objectives and competition duty. The objective of the FCA is to promote competition in the interests of consumers, not for its own sake.

In chapter 1 of the Mission Document the FCA explains that it does three things to advance its competition objective. It looks at market structure and dynamics through its market studies, adjusting the ‘rules of the game’ where necessary to improve consumer outcomes. It also investigates anti-competitive behaviour under the Competition Act 1998 and EU law; it implements regulation with the aim of supporting, rather than inhibiting, competition in consumers’ interests.

In chapter 2 of the Mission Document the FCA covers its four step decision-making framework. This illustrates how it identifies potential harm, diagnose and remedy features of a market that do not work well for consumers, and evaluate the success of those remedies to inform its future decisions.