The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has accepted the RegTech platform, Eunice, into its Regulatory Sandbox to support the development of an industry-led solution aimed at improving transparency in UK crypto markets. Working with crypto-asset firms including Coinbase, Crypto.com and Kraken, Eunice has developed standardised crypto disclosure templates to help firms meet document requirements and ensure investors receive the information they need to make informed decisions. Within the FCA's Regulatory Sandbox, Eunice will test these templates to assess their effectiveness in enhancing transparency, with the findings expected to inform the FCA's approach to crypto-asset disclosure requirements. This initiative responds to the FCA's 2024 Admissions and Disclosures Discussion Paper and forms part of the FCA's Crypto Roadmap as it prepares to publish final rules in 2026.

Law360, London: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) conceded on 13 November 2024 that it might have handled its announcement of controversial plans to publish names of the firms it probes and other details of investigations at an earlier stage differently after heated protests from the sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the adoption of measures which offer firms temporary flexibility to comply with ‘naming and marketing’ rules under the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements regime until 2 April 2025.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published PS26/19: Aligning listed issuers’ sustainability disclosures with international standards, with finalised rules requiring listed companies to report against UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), on a comply or explain basis. The new rules apply to accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2027, with first reporting in 2028. The FCA is also consulting on a Technical Note, GC26/6: Primary Market Bulletin No. 66, to help companies apply the comply or explain approach in a proportionate way. Responses are sought by 28 October 2026.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published Handbook Notice 138, setting out amendments to the FCA Handbook and related material approved by the FCA Board and the executive regulation and policy committee in January and February 2026. The notice summarises changes made through a series of instruments following consultations. These include amendments relating to the notification of a listed company’s purchase of its own securities under the UK Listing Rules (UKLR) and certain transitional provisions set out in UKLR TP 15 concerning the admission to listing of further issues of securities.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made amendments to its Handbook, effective from 28 February 2025, modifying sustainability labelling and disclosure requirements. The changes include anti-greenwashing provisions across multiple conduct of business sourcebooks, updates to sustainability labelling requirements, and revisions to on-demand sustainability information rules. The instrument extends the deadline for firms to comply with on-demand sustainability information requests from 2 December 2025 to 2 April 2026. Handbook Notice 127 describes these changes (as well as certain other changes introduced by previous instruments to other parts of the Handbook).

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an analysis of retirement income market data for the year April 2023 to March 2024. The data shows that the total number of pension plans accessed for the first time in 2023/24 increased by 19.7% compared to 2022/23, while the overall value of money being withdrawn from pension pots increased by 20.6%.

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note considers issues arising in relation to technology that assists firms in meeting their regulatory obligations, commonly known as ‘regtech’. It looks at the approaches of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England (BoE) (including the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)) to regtech, industry developments and the proposals and subsequent abandonment for an FCA ‘Robo Handbook’. This Practice Note considers the following aspects of the technology that has become known as ‘regtech’: • what is regtech? • the FCA’s approach • FCA TechSprints • digital sandbox • other regulator-side developments • towards a Robo Handbook • industry-side developments • other initiatives What is regtech? Regtech is a loose term used to describe the application of technology to assist firms in meeting their regulatory obligations efficiently and effectively, in a way that legacy systems cannot (and, in some cases, also to describe the application of technology by regulators to assist them in meeting their regulatory obligations). The term is variously used

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE) are seeking industry views on where existing rules and infrastructure support or constrain the safe use of tokenised assets, stablecoins and other cryptoasset exposures. Feedback will help shape future work and inform the next steps of developing a joint roadmap for digital wholesale markets. Responses are sought by 3 July 2026, with a feedback statement to be published in summer 2026.

On 20 March 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), supported by the City of London Police, conducted an operation in London and Oxfordshire leading to the arrest of four individuals suspected of fraud by false representation under the Fraud Act 2006 and money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The suspects were interviewed under caution and released on bail. According to the FCA, fighting financial crime is a key priority for the FCA’s new strategy and joint working (as in this instance with the City of London Police) ensures that the FCA can act swiftly to protect consumers. The investigation is ongoing and the FCA will make further announcements when appropriate.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have published a joint consultation on draft regulations and rules for the new Value for Money (VFM) framework for defined contribution workplace pension schemes. The proposals are intended to establish, as far as possible, a consistent regime across FCA-regulated contract-based arrangements and occupational pension schemes, and to shift the market’s focus away from charges alone towards overall member outcomes. The consultation closes on 1 September 2026.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) have published complaints data for the first half of the 2024. The total number of complaints received by the FOS increased by 40%, while the FCA recorded 1.86m complaints against financial services firms between April 2024 and October 2024, a 4% decrease from H2 2023.