On 24 July 2018, the FCA published two papers relating to the way it assesses the potential impact of its policies prior to implementing rules. The theme of the papers reflect the FCA’s increased focus on impact evaluation which was established in its Mission 2017.

• The first paper (How we analyse the costs and benefits of our policies) details how the FCA’s cost benefit analysis (CBA) framework operates. The paper explores the methodologies used in developing policies and the way a typical CBA works in the context of a consultation paper.
• The second paper (When and how we use field trials) sets out how the FCA’s field trials (a type of randomised controlled trial) are used to analyse the impact of FCA policies. Adopting a traditional field trial framework (with a control group operating as normal and a group receiving the intervention), the paper sets out when and how the FCA decides to use field trials and the stages involved in a typical field trial.

The FCA has also published an occasional paper which estimates the benefits of interventions that affect consumer behaviour, and looks at how monetary values are assigned to the benefits derived from regulatory interventions which address behavioural distortions and informational asymmetries.

The FCA has invited views from any stakeholder about its approach to measuring policies – more information is available on the FCA website.