On 12 March 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) provided an update on their diversity and inclusion plans in a joint statement on both the FCA and PRA websites.

The regulators confirmed that, following their 2023 consultations on proposed rules and expectations aimed at improving diversity and inclusion in regulated firms, they have no plans to take the work further. This is in light of the broad range of feedback received (including the recommendations in the ‘Sexism and the City’ report published by the Treasury Committee in the last Parliament), as well as expected legislative developments and to avoid additional burdens on firms.

In letters to the Treasury Select Committee (the Committee), FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi and PRA Deputy Governor and CEO, Sam Woods provided further detail, including:

• The majority of respondents to the consultation agreed that regulators have a role to play in diversity and inclusion.

• There were, however, reservations expressed about the reporting and data collection aspects of the proposals.

• There is a very active policy and legislative agenda, including on employment rights, gender action plans and disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting, and a lot of respondents wanted the regulators to align their regulatory approaches with those initiatives to avoid duplication and unnecessary costs.

• As a result, the regulators have decided not to publish new rules on diversity and inclusion at this time and will not reconsider them until after any new legislation in this area has been substantively implemented. They will continue to support voluntary industry initiatives instead.