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Welcome to our weekly round-up for UK financial services regulation. Paul Staples summarises the key announcements and developments. Be sure to subscribe to receive our updates in your inbox every week.
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This week, as the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) engagement with the industry continues on the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we lead with the findings from the latest AI ‘Sprint’. As the longer-term benefits for growth and customer outcomes become increasingly apparent, this latest update sets out helpful foundational themes around use cases, enablers and connections with the current regulatory framework.
Next up, we highlight latest developments on the pensions dashboard programme covering industry awareness and readiness.
The drive for regulatory simplification continues in our third item, with proposed changes to the prudential regime for investment firms, and similar developments afoot in our subsequent item.
We round off this week with a further update from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) covering proposed rules for banks’ so-called ‘step-in risk’.
Findings from the AI Sprint
The FCA recently hosted a two-day AI Sprint (the Sprint), gathering 115 experts from various sectors to discuss the future of AI in financial services.
The event highlighted four key themes around regulatory clarity, trust and risk awareness, collaboration, and safe AI innovation through sandboxing. Participants emphasised the importance of understanding existing regulations, building trust in AI, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders.
Feedback from the Sprint has informed the FCA’s next steps which include:
Expanding its AI Lab and Supercharged Sandbox to accelerate innovation
Working with the Synthetic Data Expert Group to enable safe testing of new ideas
Holding a roundtable with the ICO on 9 May 2025 to discuss with industry leaders about the challenges and opportunities they face in respect of AI adoption and wider innovation
The FCA encourages firms to join the conversation and help shape how AI transforms the financial services sector.
The Pensions Dashboard Programme has published the results of a survey conducted by the FCA looking into how firms are preparing to connect to the pensions dashboards.
The survey focused on what preparations firms were making and how, which dates firms are planning to connect by, and their confidence around being ready to connect according to the connection guidance schedule.
Findings from the survey show high awareness of pension dashboards among respondents. Almost all firms are already undertaking preparations to connect, with larger firms being the most prepared. Most firms hold relevant customer data in a digital format, but their confidence in the accuracy of data varies and might need some attention.
Firms expressed a need for more detailed guidance and information on the connection process and dashboard functionalities.
The FCA has released a consultation paper proposing to simplify regulatory capital requirements for FCA investment firms under MIFIDPRU 3, by eliminating references to the UK Capital Requirements Regulation (UK CRR). The aim is to reduce legal text by about 70%, aligning better with investment firms' business models. These changes will not alter the required levels of regulatory capital but make the rules clearer and easier to navigate, thus lowering compliance costs.
Simplifying these rules is intended to minimise misinterpretation risks and help firms maintain appropriate high-quality capital. This more coherent framework should assist new firms in understanding regulatory requirements. Feedback on the proposed changes is requested by 12 June 2025. These rules will specifically apply to MIFIDPRU investment firms, UK parent entities, and relevant parent undertakings, excluding banks and PRA-regulated entities. The final rules are expected to be published in late 2025 and effective from 1 January 2026.
The PRA recently announced that, in alignment with the Financial Services Markets Act 2023 (FSMA 2023), the UK will revoke specific EU regulations, including the MiFID Organisational Regulation (MiFID). The PRA plans to restate the MiFID Organisational Regulation into their rulebook. While no significant changes to the content of the rules are anticipated, these regulations will now be classified as domestic laws rather than EU law.
The PRA believes that incorporating MiFID into its rulebook will enhance its flexibility to address emerging market trends and risks. This change will also benefit firms by consolidating all applicable requirements into a single location.
Firms should be aware that the consultation period lasts just eight weeks, with the proposed implementation date for the changes outlined in this consultation paper set for the second half of 2025.
The Pensions Dashboard Programme has published the results of a survey conducted by the FCA looking into how firms are preparing to connect to the pensions dashboards.
The survey focused on what preparations firms were making and how, which dates firms are planning to connect by, and their confidence around being ready to connect according to the connection guidance schedule.
Findings from the survey show high awareness of pension dashboards among respondents. Almost all firms are already undertaking preparations to connect, with larger firms being the most prepared. Most firms hold relevant customer data in a digital format, but their confidence in the accuracy of data varies and might need some attention.
Firms expressed a need for more detailed guidance and information on the connection process and dashboard functionalities.
