Financial Conduct Authority - FCA
(The weekly series - Pocket Money - where I explain financial basics in fewer than 200 words. Feel free to make suggestions!)
This is the UK’s financial regulatory body which oversees financial services firms (banks, building societies, investment firms, insurers, financial advisors, mortgage brokers etc.) and markets. If a company wants to offer financial services in the UK, they typically need FCA authorisation.
They have three responsibilities:
Ensuring that customers are treated fairly.
Maintaining the integrity of the market.
Promoting competition.
They do this by:
Educating the public on financial safety and scams.
They offer a firm checker so you can find out if the company you’re dealing with is legit.
They make sure firms are behaving appropriately in terms of oversight, risk-taking, dealing with financial crime and they will step in early to take action if necessary.
They enforce competition law.
They can investigate, impose fines and take action against firms which break the rules.
They also promote and support innovation within the industry through schemes like The Regulatory Sandbox whereby firms can test innovative products with real life consumers but in a controlled environment.
They work closely with other agencies like the PRA, the Financial Ombudsman and the FSCS.
Love Eleanor. xxx
