FCA issues Policy Statement 21/16 to tackle consumer harm

Written by Thistle Initiatives - Compliance consultancy | Nov 30, 2021 3:05:00 AM

What has happened?

The FCA issued in November 2021 its Policy Statement PS 21/16, Issuing statutory notices – a new approach to decision makers, intended to ensure it can make faster and more effective decisions for consumers, markets and firms. The changes to DEPP and EG in the FCA Handbook described in this PS came into force on 26 November 2021.

What do you need to do?

The FCA has explained that, as part of its intended transformation into a more innovative and assertive regulator, more decisions will be taken by the FCA’s senior managers rather than by the Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC).

In July 2021, the FCA consulted on moving some decision-making on statutory notices (warning notices, decision notices or supervisory notices) from the RDC to its Executive Procedures function (a senior staff committee) so that the RDC would focus on contentious enforcement cases. Decisions under Executive Procedures are intended to focus on areas where there is a need to prevent or stop harm to consumers or the market occurring or increasing, by preventing firms from offering financial services or by intervening to restrict the services offered to consumers.

More contentious cases will continue to be reviewed by the RDC, which is a committee of the FCA’s Board that operates separately from the regulator.

The FCA also proposed some modifications to the existing Executive Procedures framework. PS 21/16 summarises the feedback received to Consultation Paper CP21/25 and the FCA response and sets out the final changes to the Handbook.

The FCA’s senior managers are now able to take decisions on the following;

a firm’s FCA authorisation or an individual’s approval,
action in straightforward cases to cancel a firm’s permissions where that action is contested,
starting civil proceedings, such as seeking an injunction,
starting criminal proceedings, such as a prosecution for insider dealing,
using the FCA’s powers to vary or limit a firm’s permissions (own initiative variations of permission), and
using the FCA’s powers to impose requirements on a firm

The FCA will carry out a six-month post-implementation review to assess the effectiveness of the reforms.

How can we help you with FCA Authorisation?

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with your FCA Authorisation or approval applications, variation of permissions applications or FCA enforcement arrangements, or with any other regulatory compliance issues, our expert team is here to help.

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