Financial Conduct Authority
New Chief Executive of the FCA - HM Treasury appoints Nikhil Rathi - 22 June 2020
HM Treasury has announced the appointment of Nikhil Rathi as the new permanent Chief Executive of the FCA. Mr Rathi is currently the Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange plc and is expected to take up the position in autumn 2020. He was Director of the Financial Services Group at HM Treasury from September 2009 to April 2014, during which time he led work on the UK’s EU and international financial services interests. Mr Rathi will replace Christopher Woolard, who was appointed interim Chief Executive of the FCA in January 2020.
Press release: FCA appoints Nikhil Rathi as Chief Executive of the FCA
RegData - FCA announces new regulatory data collection platform - 22 June 2020
The FCA has announced further information on its new regulatory data collection platform, called RegData, to replace its existing platform Gabriel. Its development forms part of the FCA’s data strategy, published in January 2020, which sets out the regulator’s plans for harnessing the power of data and advanced analytics to transform financial regulation.
Firms and their users will be moved from Gabriel to RegData in groups, based on their reporting obligations and schedules. In advance of their moving date, the FCA is asking firms to ensure that Gabriel contains: (i) up-to-date contact details; (ii) the correct principal user and assigned administrator rights; and (iii) accurate information about all other active users, with any non-active users disabled.
Firms should continue to use Gabriel until they have been moved to the new platform. Users that have not yet registered will still be able to do so when they next log in to Gabriel. The new platform will not result in any change to the way firms currently provide data to the FCA.
Press release: FCA announces details of new regulatory data collection platform
Webpage
COVID-19 - FCA updates webpage on delayed activities and regulatory changes - 24 June 2020
The FCA has updated its webpage detailing its planned work and activities for 2020 that will be delayed or postponed in light of the disruption caused by COVID-19. Among others, the following work, originally scheduled to complete before the end of June 2020, has been further delayed:
- the FCA’s and PRA’s joint work with the Climate Financial Risk Forum to develop industry-led guidance on how to integrate climate-related risks into business decision-making across the financial services sector is now expected in Q3 2020;
- the new directory of certified persons will now be published later on in 2020;
- FCA Consultation Papers on its approach to market integrity and wholesale markets, its new consumer duty of care and effective competition in non-workplace pensions will now be published later on in 2020;
- FCA Consultation Papers on mortgage switching and investment platforms are now expected to be published in 2021; and
- the interim report on the FCA’s market study on credit information will now be published in 2021.
A full list of the affected consultations, calls for input, other publications and rule changes can be found on the FCA website.
Updated FCA webpage on delayed activities and planned regulatory changes in light of COVID-19
Please see the Brexit section for an item on the written ministerial statement outlining the UK’s approach to the implementation of a range of financial regulatory reforms before the end of the Brexit transition period, including in relation to Solvency II, CSDR, SFTR, EMIR Refit, BMR, MAR, PRIIPs and BRRD II.
Please see the Banking and Finance section for an item on HM Treasury’s updated policy statement on prudential standards in the Financial Services Bill, which includes introducing a new prudential regime for UK investment firms and the FCA’s Discussion Paper on that regime.
