FCA’s five-year strategy: a high-level overview

In March 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its five-year strategy, setting a clear vision aimed at ensuring the UK maintains fair, innovative, and thriving financial markets. The strategy is structured around the following four strategic priorities:

• Becoming a smarter regulator: more efficient and effective.
• Supporting growth.
• Helping consumers to navigate their financial lives.
• Fighting financial crime. 

This article considers the FCA’s strategy together with its recently published annual work programme for 2025/26, which neatly summarises how the FCA aims to deliver on these strategic priorities.

1. A smarter, more efficient regulator

The FCA intends to streamline its approach to regulation by digitising authorisation processes, simplifying data collection, and enhancing its supervision model. Significant initiatives include the launch of the ‘My FCA’ digital portal, consolidating regulatory tasks into a single user-friendly interface, and the ongoing reduction of unnecessary data requests from regulated firms. The goal is to reduce administrative burdens, improve regulatory interactions, and focus FCA resources on areas where the risk of harm is greatest.

2. Supporting economic growth and innovation

Recognising the pivotal role financial services play in the UK economy, the FCA will actively support growth by facilitating innovation and improving the competitiveness of UK firms. Highlights include:

• Accelerating digital innovation by working with firms to adopt AI and other advanced technologies, including targeted regulatory support via the FCA’s AI Lab, working with the Information Commissioner's Office to access UK GDPR barriers to AI innovation.
• Expanding the Open Banking framework into Open Finance, particularly focusing on SME lending and variable recurring payments (VRP), empowering consumers with greater control over their financial data.
• Improving market entry for start-ups and high-growth firms through expanded support via the FCA’s Regulatory Sandbox and pre-application support service (PASS), making it easier and faster for innovative financial service providers to enter the market.

3. Helping consumers navigate financial services

As one would expect, the FCA’s strategy strongly emphasises consumer protection and empowerment, aiming for clearer, more positive consumer experiences. Key actions summarised in FCA's strategy and work programme include:

• Bringing deferred payment credit (DPC) and buy now pay later (BNPL) products fully within the FCA regulatory framework, ensuring appropriate consumer protections.
• Continuing the FCA’s InvestSmart campaign, enhancing consumer awareness and education on investment risks and rewards. There is also continued focus on the UK’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review.
• Simplifying and aligning existing consumer regulations around the Consumer Duty, whilst continuing to assess status and expectations of a variety of consumer-focused service areas, including pure protection products, premium finance, and a review of responsible lending and advice rules for mortgages.

4. Fighting financial crime

The FCA continues to prioritise combatting financial crime through improved detection and increased collaboration including:

• New data-led capabilities for identifying financial crime faster and more accurately, leveraging combined data sets and analytics.
• Closer cooperation with law enforcement and international partners to disrupt organised crime networks and close regulatory loopholes exploited for money laundering or fraud.
• Specific measures targeting authorised push payment (APP) fraud, including mandatory reimbursement rules and improved consumer awareness initiatives.

What are the implications for regulated firms?

For regulated financial services providers, these priorities signal both opportunities and expectations. 

The FCA's strategy and work programme once again flag the high level of active regulatory change and further plans on the horizon, all of which will impact regulated firms in different ways.

Firms should be actively engaged in horizon scanning and determining how change will be effectively managed as part of their compliance monitoring programme, and how this will impact internal processes and customer outcomes. Firms also need to be ready for new ways of engagement with the FCA, and determine how more effective use of technology and digital transformation may assist its approach to complying with financial regulatory compliance, especially in areas such as AI adoption, consumer data management, and reporting.

Ashfords regularly supports regulated firms navigating regulatory change. If you require further guidance on recent developments impacting your business model or assistance with understanding how FCA rules and requirements apply to you, please contact Oliver Woodhouse or Andrew Roberts from Ashfords’ financial services regulatory team.