On 9 January 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its response to the independent panels’ 2023/24 annual reports.

The FCA has six independent statutory panels which represent the interests of consumers, regulated firms, and markets, and with which it is required to consult on the impact of its work, policies, and practices. They are the Financial Services Consumer Panel, the Practitioner Panel, the Smaller Business Practitioner Panel, the Markets Practitioner Panel, the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, and the Cost Benefit Analysis Panel.

Each statutory panel publishes its own annual report, explaining their activities for the year and commenting on the FCA’s work. In line with its statutory requirement, the FCA has responded to the key representations made in those annual reports, grouping its responses into two sections: themes raised by all or most of the panels, and specific issues raised by individual panels.

Common themes raised across the panels include the Consumer Duty, the Advice Guidance Boundary Review, pensions value for money, competitiveness, and growth, environmental social and governance, artificial intelligence regulation, and Big Tech regulation.

Specific issues raised by the individual panels, and addressed by the FCA in its response, include:

• Financial Services Consumer Panel: general insurance and the primary consumer protection objective.
• Practitioner Panel: access to cash, strategic prioritisation and critical third parties.
• Listing Authority Advisory Panel: the volume of new regulations and consultations.
• Markets Practitioner Panel: the proposed approach to enforcement and the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.
• Smaller Business Practitioner Panel: the proportionality of data requests and the suitability of the advice sector.