United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority signals simplified advice rules and November tokenisation roadmap as rulemaking passes its peak

Financial Conduct Authority Deputy Chief Executive Sarah Pritchard outlined forthcoming simplified advice rules and a November tokenisation roadmap in a speech at the Investment Association Annual Dinner. Describing the sector as just past peak rulemaking, she emphasized a shift toward checking whether rules deliver their intended outcomes, rather than continual prescription. Updated rules, accompanied by case studies developed with the Financial Ombudsman Service, will seek to give firms greater confidence to provide simplified advice at lower cost. More than a dozen firms are already authorised to deliver targeted support, six months after its introduction. The joint roadmap with the Bank of England will set out a route from tokenisation testing to lasting market infrastructure. This gives a more specific publication timeframe for work previously signalled following the authorities’ May call for input on tokenisation in wholesale markets. Pritchard also reviewed the summer consultation on streamlining asset management rules, which could save firms GBP 128 million annually. A proposed fund reporting framework would simplify reporting while providing better supervisory data. Alongside these reforms, Pritchard warned that the FCA would act against firms unprepared for T+1 settlement, with the transition less than a year away. She reiterated the need for financial crime controls tailored to firms’ risks, drawing on July’s review of asset management and alternatives, which identified scope for improvement particularly in higher risk areas such as private markets. Firms were urged to share intelligence early and flag gaps that criminals could exploit.