On 25 September 2023, the FCA published a speech by Sarah Pritchard, its Executive Director for Markets and Executive Director for International, delivered at the City and Financial Global: Future of UK Capital Markets Regulation event.

In her speech, Ms Pritchard discusses the role of regulation in encouraging investment in the City.

The speech includes the following key remarks:

  • The FCA has signalled an intent to significantly reform the regulatory regime for the listed market, by changing and streamlining the UK listings rules to help attract a wider range of companies, encourage competition and improve choice for investors. These rule changes will be explained and confirmed by the FCA before the end of the year and it will seek to implement them speedily.
  • Under the recently passed Financial Services and Markets Act, the FCA, together with the Bank of England (BoE), will in future have the ability to directly supervise third parties who provide critical services to financial services – subject to an HM Treasury designation process. Before the end of the year, the FCA plans to set out how it and the BoE propose to carry out that supervision, so that the FCA can consult on how it operates before it goes live.
  • The FCA is also prioritising regulatory reform, through its Advice and Guidance Boundary review (jointly with HM Treasury), to help people get more access to help and advice.
  • The FCA has been improving its authorisation processes, cutting backlogs and now reporting quarterly metrics on its decision making so that its efficiency can be monitored. New authorisations forms are also being trialled with the aim of making the process “far simpler” from the start, to enable firms to get the right information to the regulator in the first instance.
  • New rules on securitisation are being consulted on, which seek to provide clarity and confidence to UK investors. These rules are also intended to lower the costs, allowing investors to expand and diversify their portfolios, and to make reporting requirements less onerous for firms.
  • Before the end of the year, the FCA will be setting out how it can allow a testing environment for those who want to test different ways of operating financial markets infrastructure.