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INTRODUCTION





BY MARTIN WHEATLEY


So all parties – consumers and firms alike – must take responsibility for their part in transactions. We recognise the real benefits that greater transparency – both from firms in the way that they deal with their customers, and from the FCA itself – can bring. We will publish a Discussion Paper in the first quarter of 2013, which brings forward proposals to embed regulatory transparency in ways that we believe will lead to real benefits for consumers.


Rules and standards affecting the UK’s financial system are increasingly being made by the European Union (EU) and international bodies. To deliver our objectives, we will continue to look beyond the domestic agenda. The FCA will play an active role in shaping policies and driving the consumer protection agenda in Europe and internationally, both in the development of broad standards and in the detailed rules that affect UK consumers and firms.


In this document we set out how we may use some of our new powers in practice. We also set out our new approach and how it will differ from the way we currently operate. Lastly, the document reflects upon the organisational and cultural changes that are already underway. We will encourage our staff to be more confident in making bold, firm and predictable decisions. We will work collaboratively, including with our stakeholders, to inform our knowledge and understanding. FCA staff will ask more probing questions; in doing so we will develop a better understanding of firms’ motivations.


The vision and ambition we have set out for the FCA are clear. Some areas will be new to us and will not be fully developed from Day One; for example, competition, where we use this document to set out our initial thinking and ask you for your views.


Things need to change: fresh thinking, new strategies and, above all, a focus on the consumer, which will lead the way to delivering a financial services industry that meets the needs and expectations of the people it was established to serve.


You may already be aware of some of the information in this document; we held workshops with around 500 firms and other key stakeholders to tell them about the FCA during the summer, and we have given a number of speeches and presentations throughout this year to set out our approach. This document brings together all our latest thinking and work on the FCA and we hope it provides our stakeholders with a better understanding of what all this change means for the day-to-day business of regulation.


Your views


The rest of this document provides a more detailed explanation of how we intend to achieve the FCA’s vision. We continue to develop our approach and there will be further work to do in the coming months and beyond Day One of the FCA. We are interested in your views and your comments; and we are committed to considering them in our ongoing design work.


To make sure we get the approach right, we have questions on specific issues that we would like your views on – our approach to competition and gathering and receiving information.


There are a number of ways to submit your comments. If you are reading a PDF version of this document online, you are able to comment on each page – see details on the right-hand side. Otherwise you can send an email with comments to: FCAApproach@fsa.gov.uk, or by mail to:


FCA Approach, Financial Services Authority 25 The North Colonnade, London E14 5HS


We would be grateful for any comments and views by 14 December 2012. We will summarise and communicate the feedback we receive in early 2013.


We have advertised more engagement events around the country, where you can talk to our staff about our approach in much more detail.

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