Formed 1 April 2013 Annual budget £452m (2014/2015) | ||
Headquarters 25 North ColonnadeLondon Agency executives John Griffith-Jones, ChairmanAndrew Bailey , Chief Executive | ||
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the UK’s financial markets. It focuses on the regulation of conduct by both retail and wholesale financial services firms. Like its predecessor the FSA, the FCA is structured as a company limited by guarantee.
Contents
History
On 19 December 2012 the Financial Services Act 2012 received royal assent, and it came into force on 1 April 2013. The Act created a new regulatory framework for financial services and abolished the Financial Services Authority. Specifically, the Act gave the Bank of England responsibility for financial stability, bringing together macro and micro prudential regulation, created a new regulatory structure consisting of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Powers
The authority has significant powers, including the power to regulate conduct related to the marketing of financial products. It is able to specify minimum standards and to place requirements on products. It has the power to investigate organisations and individuals.
In addition, the FCA is able to ban financial products for up to a year while considering an indefinite ban; it will have the power to instruct firms to immediately retract or modify promotions which it finds to be misleading, and to publish such decisions.
The authority is responsible for regulating the consumer credit industry from 1 April 2014, taking over the role from the Office of Fair Trading.
Payment Systems Regulator
In April 2015, the FCA created a separate body, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), in accordance with section 40 of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. The PSR's role is "to promote competition and innovation in payment systems, and ensure they work in the interests of the organisations and people that use them".
Banks
The Financial Services Act of 2012 set out a new system for regulating financial services in order to protect and improve the UK’s economy.
The FCA will supervise banks to:
Mutual societies
There are more than 10,000 mutual societies in the UK. The FCA are responsible for:
Financial advisers
Rules came into force in 2012 for Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) following the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) rules. To be classed as an IFA, businesses need to:
Leaders
In early 2011, it was confirmed that the new head of the FCA will be Martin Wheatley, formerly chairman of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission. In June 2012 it was confirmed that John Griffith-Jones would become the non-executive chair of the FCA once the FSA ceases operations in 2013. Griffith-Jones joined the FSA board in September 2012 as a non-executive director and deputy chair. Griffith-Jones retired from KPMG, where he was chairman of the UK division, in August 2012.
In December 2013, it was announced that head of asset management supervision Ed Harley had left the regulator to take up a role at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Criticism
In June 2013, the Financial Conduct Authority was criticised by the Parliamentary Commission for Banking Standards, in their report "Changing Banking for Good", which stated:
The interest rate swap scandal has cost small businesses dear. Many had no concept of the instrument they were being pressured to buy. This applies to embedded swaps as much as standalone products. The response by the FSA and FCA has been inadequate. If, as they claim, the regulators do not have the power to deal with these abuses, then it is for the Government and Parliament to ensure that the regulators have the powers they need to enable restitution to be made for this egregious mis-selling.
The FCA was rebuked by the Treasury Select Committee for lack of concern over the increase in mortgage interest rates of the Bank of Ireland's UK subsidiary.
There have been calls for the resignation of chairman John Griffith-Jones because of his responsibility for auditing HBOS as chairman of KPMG at the time of the financial crisis of 2007–08. There has also been criticism of chief executive Martin Wheatley because of his responsibility for the minibond fiasco in Hong Kong. There were not the customary pre-appointment hearings for either John Griffith-Jones or Martin Wheatley, so that people could not disapprove of these appointments by submitting evidence to these hearings.
On 10 December 2014, the FCA released a report from Simon Davis from Clifford Chance LLP inquiring into the events of 27/28 March 2014 relating to the press briefing of information in the FCA's 2014/15 Business Plan.
The report recommended:
On 16 December 2014, the Treasury Select Committee commenced taking evidence on the press briefing.
Name
The "Consumer Protection Agency" (CPA) promised in 2009 by the Conservative Party became "Consumer Protection and Markets Authority" (CPMA), which was changed to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after the Treasury Select Committee pointed out that this name could mislead consumers.