The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its third annual report of the Wider Implications Framework (WIF) for the 2024/25 period, covering 1 April 2024 to 31 March. The report summarises coordinated efforts and actions taken by the FCA, Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the Money and Pensions Service and the Pensions Regulator to address cross-cutting and systemic issues in financial services. The report highlights joint work conducted on motor finance commission complaints, embedding the consumer duty and implementation of the mandatory reimbursement requirements for authorised push payment fraud. The report also offers insight into how collaboration has been enhanced by updating the WIF's Terms of Reference and the FCA and FOS signing a refreshed Memorandum of Understanding. Alongside the report, the July 2025 Wider Implications Framework Issues Log was also published which provides a detailed overview of the key issues currently under consideration by the FCA and the other regulatory bodies, demonstrating how these matters are being addressed collaboratively.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the appointment of Liam Coleman as interim Chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), effective from 10 October. Mr Coleman will chair in this position until a permanent appointment is made, following an initial recruitment campaign that proved unsuccessful. He will step down as a non-executive director of the FCA to assume his new position. His appointment comes as the FCA continue work to modernise the redress system and support prevent delays to compensation.

The UK government has announced the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India, agreed in May this year. According to the government’s press release, for financial and professional services the deal provides locked-in market access and legal certainty and ensures UK firms are treated on par with domestic suppliers. Separately, the UK government has also renewed the Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership with India, enhancing cooperation on defence, education, climate and technology. Both countries also agreed to strengthen collaboration in tackling serious fraud, organised crime and illegal migration. This includes agreeing to finalise a new criminal records sharing agreement to support proceedings, maintain accurate watchlists and enforce travel bans.

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/904) have been made and published. The Regulations bring certain key provisions of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) into force from 20 August. The DUAA is a UK law that updates existing data protection regulations, aiming to promote innovation and economic growth while maintaining strong data protection standards. It introduces changes to how personal and non-personal data is managed. Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Information Commissioner's Office discussed the importance to the UK's open finance vision of secure, consent-driven data sharing, supported by the UK's Smart Data framework and the newly enacted Data Use and Access Act.

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its latest edition of its newsletter for primary market participants, Primary Markets Bulletin 56. The bulletin covers three key areas: (i) the FCA's recent success in optimising data and technology to strengthen its ability to identify failures to report positions and market abuse; (ii) the upcoming expiry of certain transitional provisions under the UK Listing Rules on 29 July; and (iii) the FCA's desire to improve primary markets datasets so that they can be used more efficiently by markets participants. In terms of the transitional provisions expiring on 29 July, the FCA notes that these include transitional provisions for eligibility requirements for inflight applicants, and certain transitional provisions for shell companies under UKLR 13, UKLR 4 and UKLR 24.

​The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) have published a joint article through the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), outlining their collaborative efforts and next steps to shape the future of open finance and smart data. Open finance seeks to extend open banking principles to a wide range of financial products, empowering consumers with greater control over their data while promoting innovation and competition. The article emphasises the importance of secure, consent-driven data sharing, supported by the UK's Smart Data framework and the newly enacted Data Use and Access Act, to be integral to the vision for open finance. The ICO will play a key role in ensuring that data protection and consumer rights remain central to the development of open finance. 

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HM Treasury (HMT) has published its consultation paper on cross-cutting reforms in the UK regulatory environment in relation to key performance indicators, principles and strategies to be applied by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the UK Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA). For application determinations, HMT proposes shortening the statutory timeframes for new firm authorisations and variations of permission from: (i) 6 months to 4 months for complete applications; (ii) from 12 months to 10 months for incomplete applications; and (iii) for SMCR approved persons applications from 3 months to 2 months. The consultation also covers the UK government's intention to consult on a proposal for streamlined authorisation conditions for innovative start-ups (also referred to as giving provisional licences or "L-plates") and to legislate to require the FCA and PRA to set out long-term strategies in line with an amended "have regard" framework in relation to regulatory principles and the relevant remit letter. The deadline for responses is 9 September.

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The UK government has published its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, a ten-year plan to drive growth and competitiveness in the UK financial services sector. The strategy follows a call for evidence issued in November 2024 and has been published in tandem with the Leeds Reforms and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech, delivered at Mansion House on 15 July. The strategy covers five areas of focus: (i) delivering a competitive regulatory environment; (ii) harnessing the UK's global leadership of financial services; (iii) embracing innovation and leveraging the UK's fintech leadership; (iv) building a retail investment culture and delivering prosperity through UK capital markets; and (v) setting the UK′s financial services sector up with the skills and talent it needs. The strategy encompasses a wide range of proposals and initiatives announced on 15 July, with key take-aways for the financial sector covered in our webinar delivered on 16 July.

HM Treasury has published a press release confirming a significant package of measures aimed at making the UK the prime destination for financial services by 2035, referred to as the "Leeds Reforms". The Leeds Reforms cover a broad range of financial services sub-sectors, and include proposals and initiatives to unlock retail investment, remove frictions to investment activity in the UK, free capital for investment in the UK, and promote innovation. The Reforms formed the foundation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech delivered at Mansion House on 15 July, in conjunction with the UK's Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness strategy.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the 2025 outcomes report of the open finance sprint, held in March. The Sprint brought together stakeholders to develop practical data-sharing use cases across four key areas: financial wellbeing, financial growth, financial resilience, and digital identity and verification. The report captures participants outputs and does not represent the FCA's official position. Key themes for a trusted and effective open finance ecosystem included:

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority has announced plans to review its client categorisation rules to unlock more investment opportunities for wealthy investors and support capital markets. The review will focus on maintaining proportionality and supporting economic growth by modernising the client classification regime, providing greater clarity and confidence for firms and forming part of a broader strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the UK's financial services sector. The FCA will consult on the elective professional client categorisation later this year.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its 2024/25 report on the secondary competitiveness and growth objective (SCGO), outlining the progress made since July 2024 and setting out its forward-looking priorities for the remainder of the reporting period. The SCGO, introduced under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, requires the FCA to publish annual reports for the first two years following the objective's introduction. This is the second such report and is accompanied by two annexes. Annex 1 provides a six-month progress update on the FCA's response to the Prime Minister's letter of December 2024, which called on UK regulators to identify actions that could unlock economic growth. In its response, the FCA outlined around 50 initiatives aimed at supporting innovation, streamlining regulation to reduce regulatory burden and boosting market access. The annex tracks progress against those commitments, several of which align with pledges made in the UK Government's March policy paper. Annex 2 presents the FCA's performance against a suite of published metrics designed to assess how its rules and guidance have contributed to advancing the SCGO. The FCA also published its response to the HM Treasury's (HMT) 2024 remit letter, reaffirming its commitment to embedding the SCGO into its five-year strategy. The letter outlines the FCA's efforts in strengthening the UK's capital markets, supporting innovation and technology and ensuring that regulatory reform is aligned with sustainable growth and consumer protection.

The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has published its July financial stability report alongside the record of its 27 June meeting. After assessing the risks to the UK financial system, the FPC reports that global financial markets remain vulnerable, with elevated risks stemming from geopolitical tensions, trade fragmentation and sovereign debt pressures.

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the launch of its new and improved FCA Handbook website. The website, currently in a beta version, retains all existing features but seeks to offer improved navigation, facilitates better understanding of rule connections and make it easier to compare different versions of FCA Handbook text to determine what has been added or deleted over time. While in beta phase, the FCA will continue to test and refine the website, with both the current and new websites accessible during the testing phase. The full rollout is expected later this year, ensuring continuous updates to rules and guidance throughout the transition. The FCA has also published a how-to guide and FAQs.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation paper CP25/17 (CP) accompanied by a press release and updated webpage, proposing a new regulatory framework for "targeted support" in pensions and retail investments. The CP forms part of the Advice Guidance Boundary Review and the FCA's five-year strategy to support growth and help consumers navigate their financial lives. The deadline for comments is 29 August and a policy statement is expected by the end of the year, subject to the volume of feedback received.

The CP proposes the introduction of a new regulated activity of targeted support, which would allow firms to provide ready-made suggestions on investment products or courses of action to groups of consumers with common characteristics, making it clear that such support does not constitute fully personalised financial advice. The UK Government has announced that it will consult on amending the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 accordingly to introduce the new regulated activity. A draft statutory instrument is expected to be published alongside the Mansion House speech on 15 July. The targeted support framework would not impact the existing regulatory framework for activities that can currently be delivered as guidance without FCA authorisation.

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published final policy statement PS25/7, alongside an updated webpage, on data decommissioning. Following the FCA's consultation in April, it has proceeded with:

• Removing the requirement for data collection relating to: (i) FSA039—Client money and assets, (ii) Section F of the Retail Mediation Activities Return (RMAR) and (iii) Form G—The Retail Investment Adviser Complaints Notifications Form.
• Simplifying the FCA Handbook to remove guidance about data collections that have already been decommissioned.
• Entirely removing forms that are already included in the Annexes to SUP 16.

These changes support the FCA's five-year strategy to become a smarter, more data-driven regulator. The changes are implemented through the Data Decommissioning Instrument 2025, effective from 27 June. The FCA states it will continue to review and streamline data collections to maintain effective supervision while reducing regulatory burdens.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced its plan to launch a new and improved FCA Handbook website as part of its five-year strategy to enhance regulatory efficiency. The updated website will retain all existing features but will offer improved navigation, facilitate understanding of rule connections and make it easier to compare different versions of Handbook text. A beta version will be available soon, with both the current and new websites accessible during the testing phase. The full rollout is expected later this year, ensuring continuous updates to rules and guidance throughout the transition.

The Bank of England (BoE) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have published a series of annual reports, which are set out below.

• BoE Annual Report and Accounts. The BoE has set out its strategic investment priorities for 2025–2028, which include: monetary policy transformation, in the context of the Bernanke Review recommendations; modernising the BoE's central banking operations and streamlining data collections; supporting greater innovation in retail and wholesale payments in the UK and internationally; supporting growth in the economy; reviewing the BoE's activities for efficiency and effectiveness; and completing transformation agendas.

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The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published its 2024/25 competitiveness and growth report, setting out how it has advanced its secondary competitiveness and growth objective (SCGO). The SCGO was introduced under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (FSMA 2023) and requires the PRA to advance the international competitiveness and growth of the UK economy, particularly in financial services. The regulators are required to publish two annual reports, in 2024 and 2025, on SCGO implementation. The PRA also comments on its secondary competition objective (SCO), which requires the PRA to facilitate effective competition in the markets for services provided by PRA-authorised firms. Earlier this month, the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee published a report on the regulators' progress in supporting growth and competitiveness, finding a prevailing culture of risk aversion by the regulators which undermines the objective.

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The UK Government has published a policy paper outlining its industrial strategy. The strategy centres around eight priority sectors (the IS-8), including financial services. The UK government's ambition is to establish the UK as the world's most innovative full-service financial centre by 2035. A dedicated sector plan is expected to be published alongside the mansion house speech on 15 July.

Key measures to achieve this objective include:

• Ensuring financial services enables growth across the real economy, with retail banks and wholesale markets providing credit and liquidity.
• Mobilising pensions capital into the UK.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its 2024 Annual Report, alongside a press release, outlining the activities undertaken and results achieved in EU capital markets over the past year. Key accomplishments include setting the necessary steps, governance and timeline for the EU's transition to a T+1 settlement cycle, the selection of consolidated tape providers to enhance market transparency and the implementation of new regulations under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. ESMA also contributed to the development of the European Single Access Point, advanced the optimisation of financial market data usage and issued new guidelines aimed at addressing and mitigating greenwashing risks. Its supervisory effectiveness was further strengthened through the execution of EU-wide stress tests and the deployment of enhanced enforcement tools.

The House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee (the Committee) has published a report, alongside a press release, evaluating the progress made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in supporting growth in the financial services sector and the wider UK economy. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 introduced a secondary objective for the regulators focused on international competitiveness and growth. While the Committee acknowledges that this objective has encouraged regulators to consider the broader impact of their actions, it also finds a prevailing culture of risk aversion by the regulators which undermines the objective. It states this contributes to persistent barriers that limit firms' ability to grow, innovate and compete.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published quarterly consultation paper No 48, accompanied by a press release, inviting feedback on proposed amendments to its Handbook. Key proposals include:

• Amending guidance in SUP 6.4 to reflect legislative changes introduced in section 415AA of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA); the deadline for comments is 14 July.
• Streamlining data reporting by decommissioning certain requirements, including changes to REP009 (consumer buy-to-let mortgage aggregated data) reporting frequency and removing nil return requirements for REP008 (notification of disciplinary actions relating to conduct rules staff other than SMF managers); the deadline for comments is 30 June.

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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has published a consultation paper seeking views on the interest rates applied to compensation awards. This follows concerns raised in response to a 2024 joint call for input with the UK Financial Conduct Authority, that the current rate of 8% discretionary interest on top of compensation awards is excessively high.

The consultation paper invites feedback on whether the current 8% interest rate should be: (i) maintained at its current level of 8%; (ii) reduced, with respondents to suggest alternative rates and the rationale behind them; (iii) replaced with a tracker rate linked to the Bank of England (BoE) base rate plus 1%, where the base rate is calculated as an average rate over the period that the money was due until the date redress payment is made (FOS's recommended option); or (iv) replaced with a tracker rate linked to the BoE base rate plus 1%, but where the base rate is calculated as the rate at the point of determination of the complaint. FOS also sets out options for implementation, with its preferred approach to apply the new rate to complaints referred from the date the change takes effect.

In addition, FOS is seeking views on the types of exceptional circumstances where it may be appropriate for an ombudsman to ask a firm not to apply interest e.g., by choosing not to award interest for a certain period to reflect a firm's unreasonable conduct that caused delays during the investigation. In such cases, the ombudsman will be required to clearly explain the reasons for departing from the standard rate. The consultation focuses on pre-and-post determination interests, it does not address any other awards an ombudsman may recommend when making a decision. The deadline for comments on the consultation paper is 2 July. FOS aims to publish a policy statement in September, with the intention of implementing any changes as soon as possible thereafter.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a keynote speech delivered by its Chairperson, José Manuel Campa, at a high-level meeting for European supervisors in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the importance of an efficient and effective financial services regulatory framework to support sustainable growth while enhancing EU competitiveness. While acknowledging the effectiveness of the current framework, particularly in ensuring financial stability, Mr Campa recognises concerns around its complexity and proportionality, understanding the need for greater simplification efforts.

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The Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit has published a study on enhancing EU competitiveness in the banking sector, provided at the request of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. The study emphasises the importance of a resilient and efficient banking sector for EU competitiveness. Building on its analysis, the study has recommended that, to achieve this, the EU should first prioritise the defragmentation of the banking market, and second, simplify and streamline the prudential framework for banks without compromising resilience.

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Martin Moloney, Deputy Secretary General of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), has delivered a speech at the International Council of Securities Associations' Annual General Meeting on the potential for reforming financial regulation in a way that supports, rather than stifles, economic growth. Mr Moloney placed particular emphasis on pursing sustainable economic growth, supported by stable financial markets, for effective regulatory reform and warned against cycles of deregulation and re-regulation. He urged policymakers to critically assess and streamline existing regulatory regimes, noting that both legislative and rule-making processes often fall short in designing optimal regulatory frameworks.

Mr Moloney outlined three key challenges with effective regulatory redesign:

• Complexity of objectives. Regulatory tools must now serve multiple goals, which can make it difficult to calibrate them proportionately.
• Industry consultation. While essential, industry feedback tends to gravitate toward consensus on the 'lowest common denominator', not necessarily reflecting the changes that industry would most benefit from.
• Global interdependence. Regulatory reform is constrained by the need for international consistency as jurisdictions cannot diverge significantly from global norms when creating national-based legislation without facing cross-border consequences.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published part 1 of its 2024 annual report, with a press release, reflecting on key regulatory and supervisory achievements under its work programme over the past year. These include: (i) progress in the implementation of the Basel III reforms; (ii) the further integration of ESG considerations into regulatory frameworks, via the issuance of guidelines and reports on ESG risks, greenwashing and scenario analysis; (iii) the assessment of financial stability amid high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainties, supported by two risk assessment reports; (iv) the enhancement of regulatory data infrastructure through the EUCLID platform; (v) the development of oversight and supervisory capacity for firms subject to the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR); and (vi) an enhanced focus on innovation and consumers (including access to financial services) while preparing for the transition to the new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) framework.

The European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has published a draft report (dated 13 May) and motion for a European Parliament resolution on improving access to finance for SMEs and scale-ups. The motion for a resolution has regard to various recent European Commission (EC) communications, including on the Savings and Investment Union (SIU) and competitiveness compass, and other key publications and reports such as the Draghi report and Letta report.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its 2024 report, along with a press release, on the quality and use of data, showcasing significant increase in data use by authorities. The report covers datasets from the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (648/2012) (EMIR), the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation ((EU) 2015/2365) (SFTR), the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (600/2014) (MiFIR), the Securitisation Regulation (2017/2402/EU), the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (2011/61/EU) (AIFMD) and the Money Market Funds Regulation ((EU) 2017/1131) (MMF Regulation). This edition also expands the scope to include the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) data and short-selling data. The report is divided into different sections.

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The European Commission (EC) has launched a dedicated channel for reporting barriers to financial market integration within the EU Single Market. This initiative, which announced in the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) Communication adopted in March, invites market participants, individuals or businesses to provide information on any existing obstacles that affect the functioning of the single market for savings and investments. This includes issues that affect the seamless flow of cross-border capital, reduce the ease of doing business across the EU or impose excessive red tape and complex regulatory settings. Issues that may be reported include, but are not limited to, market fragmentation, divergent supervisory practices, licensing and freedom of doing business (including discriminatory practices) and overly burdensome or repetitive reporting requirements. Feedback is invited via a designated email and the EC commits to regularly monitor the feedback and use it to tackle existing obstacles to financial market integration and free movement of capital, with the aim of further advancing the SIU. The EC notes that this channel is not a formal complaint submission mechanism and stakeholders should not expect to receive an individual reply or feedback from the EC.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a letter, along with a press release and webpage, from its Chair, Klaas Knot, to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors ahead of their meeting on 23-24 April. The letter addresses the progress made in tackling global challenges to financial stability and outlines priorities for the future to prevent instability, enhance the resilience of the global financial system and support growth. The key areas of progress are:

• Ensuring financial stability through periods of turmoil. The FSB will continue to learn from vulnerabilities caused by previous events such as the banking stress of March 2023 and the COVID-induced market turmoil of March 2020, to ensure effective monitoring of the financial system. The FSB recognises the importance of strengthening the resilience non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) and aims to deliver policy recommendations in July to the G20, to address financial stability risks arising from leverage in NBFI.

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation paper (CP) proposing the removal of reporting and notification requirements as part of its strategy to prevent unnecessary collection of data to reduce regulatory burden and costs. The consultation paper is accompanied by a press release and an updated webpage. The FCA seeks feedback on the proposals, which include:

• eliminating the requirement to provide data relating to: (i) FSA039 – Client money Assets; (ii) Section F of the RMAR; and (iii) Form G – The Retail Investment Adviser Complaints Notifications Form;
• simplifying the FCA Handbook to remove guidance about data collections that have already been decommissioned; and
• entirely removing forms that are already included in the Annexes to SUP 16.

As the FCA is using a shortened consultation period of four weeks, the deadline for responses is 14 May. The FCA is currently reviewing other data collections and expects to be able to consult on the removal of further returns later in 2025.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced its first-ever establishment of a presence in the United States (US) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as part of its new strategy to support growth. The FCA representatives will be based in Washington DC in the US and Australia in APAC. The aim of the expanded presence is to support the export of UK financial services internationally and attract more inward investment from third countries into the UK.

The Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum (the Forum) has published the Regulatory Initiatives Forum Grid (the Grid), with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also updating its webpage. The previous Grid was due to be published in May 2024 but was postponed due to the General Election, meaning the Forum published only an interim update in October 2024.

The 2025 Grid sets out the regulatory pipeline for the next 24 months and reflects the reprioritisation that has taken place since the new government came into power. Notable initiatives include:

• motor finance commission review: the FCA intends to confirm, within six weeks of the Supreme Court's decision on past use of discretionary commission arrangements by motor finance firms, whether it will propose a redress scheme;
• liquidity risk management in funds: the FCA will consult on refined proposals regarding liquidity risk management in funds to implement FSB and IOSCO guidelines;
• Consumer Composite Investments (CCI) Regulation: the FCA published a second consultation paper on the new CCI regime on 16 April (see our update) and plans to issue a Policy Statement with final rules in late 2025;

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its work programme for 2025/26, alongside a press release summarising its approach to supporting the testing of innovative products and new firms. The work programme sets out how the FCA will deliver its four strategic priorities of being a smarter regulator, supporting growth, helping consumers navigate their financial lives and fighting financial crime, as set out in the FCA's five year strategy.

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed its decision to review the remaining SME Banking Undertakings 2002 and has launched its consultation seeking views on whether the undertakings need to be updated. In 2002, certain banks signed up a set of legal obligations to target specific features of the SME banking markets which were barriers to competition. This included the provisions referred to as the limitation on bundling provisions, which restricted the banks from requiring an SME customer to open or maintain a business current account in order to access business loans or deposit accounts. Although most of the undertakings were released by the CMA in 2016, the limitation on bundling provisions still remains. The CMA is therefore looking for views and evidence on changes to the structure and competitiveness of SME banking markets since 2016 and whether the limitation on bundling provisions is still appropriate. The deadline for comments is 7 May. In terms of next steps, the CMA expects to consult on its provisional decision in summer, with a final decision published in autumn.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published its report alongside a press release following a review into the gathering and use of children's data in financial services, particularly from services supplying them with current accounts, savings accounts, trust accounts, ISAs and prepaid cards. The report, part of the ICO's strategic ICO25 plan, highlights areas of good practice, while identifying key areas requiring improvement such as: (i) governance – while most organisations have data protection policies in place, there is limited monitoring of compliance with these policies, with only a small percentage providing specific training; (ii) transparency – many organisations lack age-appropriate privacy information and rely on parents or guardians to convey terms to children, creating a risk of children either misunderstanding or not understanding information at all; (iii) consent – some organisations are failing to review and refresh parental consent received on behalf of a child, as the child matures, making original consent likely void until it is obtained from the child; and (iv) contact including marketing – most organisations do not consider the challenges which arise in distinguishing parents and children when communications are provided, thereby increasing non-compliance risks. The ICO's findings highlight an urgent call for organisations, particularly in the financial services sector offering products for children, to align UK GDPR standards in practice, to mitigate risks and advance in compliance efforts.

The HM Treasury (HMT) has updated its policy paper on its new approach to ensure regulators and regulations support growth. The paper was originally published on 17 March. The update includes an amendment in relation to action 2 of the paper, which seeks to reduce uncertainty across the UK regulatory system by working with regulators to achieve clarity on their roles, approach and processes. The amendment confirms that HMT will review the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority key performance indicators to ensure they are as ambitious as possible, to provide faster, more proportionate authorisations.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its new five-year strategy, focusing on the following key priorities with the stated objectives of deepening trust and rebalancing risk, to support growth and improve lives:

• to be a smarter regulator; predictable, purposeful and proportionate. The FCA will improve its processes and embrace technology to become more efficient and effective.
• to support sustained economic growth, by enabling investment, innovation and ensuring the continued competitiveness of the UK's world-leading financial services.
• to help consumers navigate their financial lives by working with industry to boost trust, product innovation and ensuring the right information and support is available for people to take financial decisions.
• to fight financial crime, focusing on those who seek to use the fact they are regulated to do harm. It will go further to disrupt criminals and support firms to be an effective line of defence.

Each priority is accompanied by intended markers of success by 2030.

The European Commission has unveiled its strategy for the Savings and Investments Union (SIU), an initiative to improve the way the EU financial system channels savings to productive investments. Alongside the communication, the Commission also published an accompanying press release and questions and answers. A factsheet includes a summary timetable for key proposed measures. In Q2 2027, the Commission will publish a mid-term review of the overall progress in achieving the Savings and Investments Union.

Implementing the SIU requires a range of policy measures, which are grouped under four headings:

• Citizens and savings—encouraging and incentivising retail customers to hold more of their savings in capital market instruments.
• Investments and financing—promoting investment in equity and certain alternative assets, namely venture capital, private equity and infrastructure.
• Integration and Scale—removing sources of fragmentation in EU capital markets, whether regulatory, supervisory or political, to allow for the possibility of market-driven consolidation.
• Efficient Supervision in the Single Market—harmonised supervision is an objective of the SIU. All financial market operators should receive the same supervisory treatment irrespective of their location across the Union.

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The European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has published a draft report (dated 12 March) on facilitating investments and reforms to boost European competitiveness and creating a Capital Markets Union. The report identifies challenges facing the EU, including the risk of economic decline and its perceived inability to protect itself from territorial threats highlighted by the Russia-Ukraine war as well as the strategic realignment of the U.S. The EU is therefore exploring ways to improve its budgetary headroom and mobilise private capital for investment to provide financing for defence capacities, while continuing to support the green reindustrialisation and to invest in education and research. It is noted that businesses are turning outside the EU to gain access to finance and resources and often scale up in foreign markets.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority has published an overview of its planned consultations for 2025. The consultations relate to workstreams under the EU Listing Act, the Markets in Financial Instruments package, the latest European Market Infrastructure Regulation (known as EMIR 3), the review of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, sustainable finance and investor protection. ESMA states that it will update the list regularly.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a press release confirming its decision to expand its initiative to settle transactions recorded on distributed ledger technology (DLT) in central bank money. The press release confirms that the Eurosystem will develop a settlement platform that is interoperable with trans-European automated real-time gross settlement express transfer system (referred to as TARGET) services, and will also consider a more integrated, long-term solution for settling DLT transactions in central bank money which will include international considerations. This expansion follows the Eurosystem's work last year on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement, which comprised various settlement experiments and included bank, financial market and DLT platform participants.

The European Commission (EC) has published a communication outlining its 2025 work programme. The EC also published the annexes to the 2025 work programme which include:

• Annex I – new initiatives. The table in this annex lists the new initiatives the EC intends to adopt in 2025 to deliver on its priorities;
• Annex II – annual plan on evaluations and fitness checks. The EC's annual plan of evaluations and fitness checks is designed to ensure continuity of the simplification and burden reduction exercise;

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The Prudential Regulation Authority has published a letter (dated January 15, 2025) from Sam Woods, PRA Deputy Governor and CEO, to the Government setting out the actions the PRA has taken, and will take, with a view to enhancing economic growth. Actions already addressed by the PRA include:

• simplifying the prudential regime for small banks;
• proposing further amendments to remuneration requirements to enhance competitiveness; and
• simplifying regulatory data-reporting from banks.

The PRA also considers that broader changes could simplify and rationalize the U.K. regulatory regime in other ways, such as identifying potential overlaps between PRA's governance and disclosure requirements and those of legislation or other regulators. In the PRA's view, rationalizing the U.K. financial services regulators' "have regards" principles could lead to a simplification of the length and complexity of the analysis underpinning new regulations with consequential benefits for the cost of regulatory engagement by firms and efficient use of resources by the PRA. The principles relate to the number of principles regulators are required to "have regard" to and to which they are held to account for when exercising their powers.

HM Treasury has announced that the Chancellor will increase engagement with financial services leaders to strengthen plans to grow the economy. Over the coming months, the Chancellor plans to host a series of Industry Forums with key sub-sector leaders in banking, insurance, and asset management to elicit views on delivering long-term growth. HMT explains that the Industry Forums, alongside extensive further engagement at official and ministerial levels, will ensure that industry and senior stakeholders are closely involved in the development of the upcoming Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy so that it tackles the key issues that matter most to the industry. The first meetings of the Industry Forums will run throughout January and February, reconvening ahead of the Government's publication of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy as part of the Industrial Strategy later this year. The Government will continue to work closely with industry following the publication of the Strategy, to ensure that it is implemented effectively. The Strategy, set to be published in the spring, aims to develop policies that foster growth in the financial services sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a letter (dated January 16, 2025) from Nikhil Rathi, FCA Chief Executive, sent to the Government, setting out its work to ensure that it is supporting the Government's U.K. growth mission. The letter responds to Government's December call for regulators to support growth. In the letter, the FCA explains that to achieve the vast reforms, the FCA will need to take greater risks and prioritize resources. The Government's support and acceptance of this approach is required, including an acceptance that there will be failures because it will not be possible to prevent all harm under an approach based on risk-based choices. The FCA emphasizes that this acceptance needs to be shared across all accountability mechanisms, including in Parliament, and states that metrics for "tolerable failures" within the overall system would assist.

The areas addressed in the letter include:

• unlocking capital investment and liquidity: in addition to the planned reforms for the wholesale markets, the FCA will fast-track a review of capital requirements for specialized trading firms to improve liquidity;
• accelerating digital innovation to enhance productivity: the FCA makes a number of suggestions on how to do this including introducing a new open banking payment method and developing open finance, the removal of the £100 contactless payment limit to enhance consumer flexibility and level the playing field with digital wallets. The FCA also suggests that government action could help by introducing digital identity authentication, enhancing the quality of the Companies House database to reduce costs for business, and digitalizing court systems to reduce delays;

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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a Dear CEO Letter setting out its supervision strategy for firms in the custody and fund services sector. The custody and fund services sector broadly covers firms acting as third-party custodians, depositaries for both authorized and non-authorized funds, and third-party administrators who provide services such as fund accounting and transfer agency.

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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority published a Dear CEO letter setting out its strategy for providers and distributors of contract for differences over the next two years. The FCA's planned work relates to:

• Consumer Duty — the FCA will continue to test the embedding of the Consumer Duty and plans to conduct a multi-firm review focusing on the Consumer Duty's 'price and value' outcome;
• market abuse — the FCA aims to improve the identification of market abuse in the portfolio, focusing on transaction reporting and continuing its firm-specific targeted reviews of surveillance arrangements;
• reducing harm for firm failure — the FCA will continue to assess firms' implementation of the Investment Firms Prudential Regime, using regulatory returns and targeted data requests to identify outliers. The FCA will also oversee the progress of smaller firms on their MIFIDPRU capital glide paths and take action where firms have inadequate plans to increase capital in line with minimum glide path expectations;

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