Financial Conduct Authority
Financial Conduct Authority
Main page

Financial Conduct Authority

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Financial Conduct Authority

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It 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 financial markets in the United Kingdom.

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.

The FCA works alongside the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Policy Committee to set regulatory requirements for the financial sector. The FCA is responsible for the conduct of around 58,000 businesses which employ 2.2 million people and contribute around £65.6 billion in annual tax revenue to the economy in the United Kingdom.

The Financial Services Act 2012 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, and created a new regulatory structure consisting of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

On 26 October 2015, the FCA brought in rules banning regulated financial services firms from offering premium rate 084, 087 or 09 telephone numbers for customer contact.

With effect from 14 September 2019, the FCA introduced strong customer authentication rules as required by the Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2), aiming to reduce fraud and improve security by requiring payment services providers to use two of the following three types of authentication when customers make online payments over €30 in the EEA:

The FCA published new Listing Rules in 2024, aiming to simplify the UK listings regime, marking the most significant changes in over three decades. These rules, effective from 29 July 2024, created a single listing category and streamlined eligibility criteria to encourage a wider range of companies to issue shares in the UK.

In April 2015, the FCA created a separate entity, 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".

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.