The Financial Services and Markets Bill creates a Designated Activities Regime that will impact both authorised and unregulated firms. The Designated Activities Regime is intended to maintain the purview of the Financial Conduct Authority over certain activities, products and conduct that are currently regulated by retained EU law but that are not regulated activities under the existing Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). It forms part of the government’s overall policy objective to establish a comprehensive FSMA model for financial services regulation. This briefing discusses that FSMA model, how the Designated Activities Regime will work, what it will be used for and what it could be used for, before signposting what firms should do now.