FCA reviews rulebook as UK reforms reshape financial regulation

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FCA reviews financial regulation

Highlights

FCA mortgage rule amendments in 2025 and transaction-reporting changes in August 2026 are expected to save firms over £100m annually by reducing low-value compliance.
In August 2026, the FCA will amend IPO research rules to eliminate the seven-day wait for publishing research, aiming to accelerate listings and cut company risk.
The FCA is intensifying formal and stakeholder-driven rule reviews—such as those on high-cost credit, overdrafts, and persistent debt—to ensure regulations remain proportionate and responsive to evolving markets.

Rule reviews expand across mortgages, markets and listings

As outlined by FCA, the regulator says regular reviews help determine whether rules remain fit for purpose as market conditions, consumer behaviour and technology evolve.

It says formal assessments under its Rule Review Framework, including evidence assessments, post-implementation reviews and impact evaluations, are one part of that process. The FCA also draws on supervisory work, data monitoring, market studies and calls for evidence to judge how rules affect firms, consumers and markets in practice.

The regulator cites earlier and current reviews across several areas. These include a review of the high-cost short-term credit price cap, which it says showed better outcomes for consumers and supported a decision to keep the existing cap, as well as work on value measure rules in general insurance, the 2019 overdrafts intervention, the 2020 ban on contingent charging in pensions and an upcoming evaluation of its 2018 persistent debt measures.

More recent changes highlighted by the FCA include mortgage rule amendments introduced in 2025 to simplify requirements and give firms and consumers greater flexibility. In 2026, it also completes the first phase of reforms to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime and is consulting on a broader second phase, while changes announced in August 2026 to the UK transaction-reporting regime are expected to save firms more than £100m a year by cutting duplicative and low-value reporting requirements.

Also in August 2026, the FCA amends IPO research rules so firms no longer need to wait seven days to publish research linked to a listing. It says the change is intended to speed up the listing process and reduce risk for companies, with the amended rules taking immediate effect after a spring consultation.

Accountability and flexibility drive the reform agenda

The FCA says reviewing rules matters for three main reasons, keeping regulation effective and proportionate, helping the regulator learn from how interventions perform in practice, and supporting accountability when markets change or unintended consequences emerge.

That approach is also linked to the broader regulatory reform programme now under way in the UK. As more rules move into the FCA Handbook, the regulator says it is revisiting existing requirements through consultations and other feedback channels to assess whether they still meet their objectives or need to be updated.

The agency points to work such as the Advice Guidance Boundary Review and reforms to investment research rules as examples of that shift. It also says the Consumer Duty's outcomes-focused framework creates scope to rely less on prescriptive requirements in some areas and give firms more flexibility while maintaining standards.

External input remains central to the process, the FCA says, with firms, consumer groups and other stakeholders contributing through consultations, post-implementation reviews and other review exercises. The regulator adds that not every piece of evidence amounts to a formal evaluation, but says continuous review and adaptation are fundamental to durable financial regulation.

In our earlier article on Chancellor John Healey’s deficit-reduction stance ahead of the October 28 Budget, we outlined how the government is signalling a tighter fiscal phase while trying to maintain support for growth and investor confidence. We also noted the latest GDP reading showing modest UK resilience and the mounting political debate over how far policy should lean on fiscal discipline versus deeper structural reforms.

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