Culture and social governance—financial services

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This overview is a guide to the Lexis+® UK Financial Services content within the Culture and social governance subtopic, with links to appropriate materials. 

Overview

The UK financial services regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), view culture as both a key driver and a potential mitigant of risks to market integrity and consumer protection. The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) was introduced with the primary aim of driving cultural change in the financial services industry by promoting individual accountability. Since its implementation, the regulatory approach to fostering healthy cultures and positive social governance has evolved to include the recognition of non-financial misconduct (NFM) as a regulatory risk.

Culture

Embedding healthy cultures remains a core supervisory priority, with cultural failings frequently leading to FCA enforcement action.

The Practice Note: FCA supervisory and enforcement focus on culture examines the FCA’s articulation of what constitutes a healthy culture and outlines the core cultural drivers that firms are expected to assess and manage. It also details the FCA’s ‘cultural levers’, which supervisors use to evaluate firms’ cultures. The Practice

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Latest Financial Services News

FCA publishes updated policy statement on statutory investigations into regulatory failure and producing reports

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an updated policy statement on statutory investigations into regulatory failure and the production of reports, setting out the circumstances in which the FCA must investigate and report to HM Treasury (HMT) under Part 5 of the Financial Services Act 2012. The revised statement reflects developments since 2013 and incorporates a secondary objective requiring the FCA to support the international competitiveness and long-term growth of the UK economy. The updated statement applies to events occurring on or after 14 November 2025.

PRA publishes discussion paper on enabling UK life insurers to access alternative life capital

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published Discussion Paper 2/25, seeking views on potential policy changes to help UK life insurers access third-party capital beyond traditional equity or debt issuance. The paper explores Insurance Linked Securities (ILS), Significant Risk Transfers (SRTs) and life insurance sidecars to improve funding flexibility while maintaining policyholder protection. Responses are sought by 6 February 2026.

OFSI issues General Licence INT/2025/7895596

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued General Licence INT/2025/7895596 under regulation 64 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/855. The licence allows for the continuation of business operations involving Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD and Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, and any entities they own or control. The licence permits payments to or from the Lukoil Bulgaria entities under existing or new contracts, payments to or from other persons under such contracts, and the provision or receipt of economic resources from the Lukoil Bulgaria entities. The licence is effective from 14 November 2025 and expires on 14 February 2026.

Financial Services—other developments (14/11/2025)

A round-up of other developments, which have not been covered in full by the LexisNexis Financial Services practical guidance team but may nevertheless be of interest.

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