FCA plans Handbook review as part of new mission

"We are determined to be clearer with firms about the expectations they can have of us and the decisions we will take."

In developing the Mission, the FCA is launching a consultation which it says will "have a fundamental impact on the shape of the final strategy" and could have implications for its rules.

As a result, the regulator is seeking suggestions on a proposed review of the FCA Handbook.

In its Mission, the FCA said: "Some of the issues discussed in this paper could have implications for our rules. So we would like to hear views on the need for a more specific Handbook review. We are determined to be clearer with firms about the expectations they can have of us and the decisions we will take.

"To support this, we are planning work to review our Handbook to identify changes we could make that would clarify our rules. To help this review we will issue a call for evidence to seek your views about particular areas of the Handbook that would benefit from clarification."

Key themes that the FCA will be consulting on include whether the it should prioritise the protection of vulnerable consumers, what its role should be in redress schemes, and the circumstances in which the FCA may intervene with regard to unregulated activities.

Andrew Bailey, FCA Chief Executive, said: “Establishing and embedding a clear mission for the FCA is critical to our success, both as a regulator and to UK financial services as a whole. Our Mission will set out a framework within which we prioritise our work, ensuring we focus our resources in the right places. This will improve accountability and transparency of how and why we make the choices that we do.

“The Mission will only be a success if our stakeholders engage with us through this consultation process. We want this to be a very open process. Out of it, we hope that we can set out a clear path ahead for financial conduct regulation in the UK.”

Ashurst regulatory partner, Jake Green, commented: "Bailey will hope that by giving respondents an opportunity to input into the way the regulator works will quell the detractors who say the FCA is failing to do its job and hold industry to account. 

"For industry, however, the worry will be that the pendulum swings too far in the opposite direction and the FCA is re-shod as simply a consumer protection agency at a time where (in any event) the wholesale market is dealing with the largest amount of regulatory change it has ever (and may ever) faced. Will this really change the culture and focus of the FCA?  Not necessarily, but it is certainly a good way to get buy-in from the start for any new regime."