Key developments of interest over the last month include: publication of the Payments Vision Delivery Committee’s strategy for the future UK retail payments infrastructure; the Bank of England consulting on a proposed...more
12/1/2025
/ Bank of England ,
Banking Sector ,
Blockchain ,
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
Stablecoins ,
Tokenization ,
UK
The PRA has published a policy statement on increases to the deposit protection limits under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and changes to disclosure requirements to ensure depositors have clear information...more
As part of its wider financial crime supervisory work in support of its 2025–30 strategy, the FCA has published the findings from its multi-firm review of firms' business-wide risk assessment (BWRA) and customer risk...more
11/13/2025
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Assessment
The Bank of England has published a consultation on a proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins, designed to maintain public trust in money as the pace of payments innovation accelerates....more
11/12/2025
/ Bank of England ,
Consultation Papers ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins
Financial inclusion remains a particular area of focus for both the FCA and the government, and on 5 November 2025 HM Treasury (HMT) published its awaited Financial Inclusion Strategy....more
11/11/2025
/ Bank Accounts ,
Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Fair Access to Credit ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Open Banking ,
UK
On 4 November 2025, the government laid the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities etc.) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2025 (Amendment Order), introducing an exemption for domestic premises suppliers from...more
11/6/2025
/ Brokers ,
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Credit ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
New Legislation ,
Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) ,
UK
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the Australian Government consulting on draft legislation to regulate digital asset platforms and tokenised custody services; the UK and U.S. governments launching a...more
10/28/2025
/ Australia ,
Blockchain ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Investment Products ,
New Legislation ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UK
The FCA has published the key findings from its multi-firm review of how firms detect and prevent romance fraud, and the measures they take to protect their customers against it. The FCA highlights the ‘critical importance'...more
The FCA has recently published a feedback statement summarising the responses received on April 2024 proposals about the design of the Future Entity for UK open banking. The feedback statement sets out the FCA's expectations...more
9/30/2025
/ Banks ,
Competition ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
New Legislation ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UK
The FCA is consulting on the introduction of a new exemption from strong customer authentication (SCA) requirements for low risk contactless payments....more
9/24/2025
/ Bank Service Providers ,
Banks ,
E-Money ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the UK government’s consultation on consolidating the Payment Systems Regulator into the FCA to streamline oversight of payment systems; the South African Reserve...more
9/24/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
CFTC ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Investment ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 3 September 2025, Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England (the Bank), gave a speech setting out her vision for a “multi-money” system. ...more
9/19/2025
/ Bank of England ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Innovation ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Stablecoins ,
Tokenization ,
UK
The FCA will take on the PSR’s responsibilities as economic regulator for UK payment systems via legislation integrating PSR’s functions within FCA’s current FSMA 2000 framework (or in a new part of FSMA 2000). An HMT...more
The FCA has shared examples of good practice and areas for improvement from the applications for authorisation or registration that it has seen. The focus is on how firms demonstrate in their applications that they have...more
9/15/2025
/ Best Practices ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internal Controls ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
1. Introduction -
Given the sea change of PSD2, one might expect the prospect of the proposed PSD3 and PSR to have PSPs groaning at the thought of yet more root and branch reg change projects. However, whilst the proposals...more
9/5/2025
/ Banks ,
E-Money ,
EU ,
European Council ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinTech ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Systems ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's decision to restart the open banking rulemaking process; the UK FCA's publication of a policy statement with final...more
8/28/2025
/ Advocate General ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Digital Assets ,
E-Money ,
Electronic Payment Transactions ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Money Laundering ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Stablecoins
The FCA believes that some payments firms do not currently have sufficiently robust safeguarding practices. This poses a risk of harm to consumer and market integrity that the FCA is seeking to mitigate. ...more
8/28/2025
/ Consultation Papers ,
Contractual Safeguards ,
E-money tokens ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Payment Systems ,
Reconciliation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Statutory Trusts ,
UK
The ECJ has confirmed that a payment service user (PSU) is deprived of the right to reimbursement for an unauthorised transaction under PSD1 if: they fail to notify without undue delay upon becoming aware of it; or...more
8/28/2025
/ Advocate General ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
New Legislation ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
PSD ,
PSD2 ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reimbursements
Reform of the appointed representatives (ARs) regime has been on the cards for some time, with an HM Treasury (HMT) call for evidence having been published as far back as December 2021. HMT has now published a policy...more
As part of the FCA's ongoing commitment to share more information on how firms are embedding the Consumer Duty, it has recently published the results of its multi-firm review of digital design in customers' online journeys....more
The FCA has finalised the changes that were proposed in May this year to make it easier for customers to engage with mortgage providers and make reductions to mortgage terms and remortgaging easier. This includes removing the...more
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the UK government's communications in connection with the Chancellor's annual Mansion House speech, and the launch of its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness...more
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has delivered her second Mansion House speech and announced the “Leeds Reforms” in conjunction with publication of the awaited Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy and related...more
The FCA has recently published the results of its multi-firm review of payments and e-money firms' risk management frameworks and wind-down plans. It once again highlights the need to develop frameworks and plans in-line with...more
Following the FCA’s May 2025 ‘first steps’ consultation on proposals to simplify its mortgage framework via a Mortgage Rule Review (MRR), it has now published a discussion paper on the future of the mortgage market. The...more