It’s funny that I’m blogging so much about trust and identity, but that seems to be the theme of the year. So when I saw the new release of the Financial Conduct Authority’s five-year vision I was struck by the Chair’s opening page, which is all about trust. Ashley Alder writes:
“When financial services are strong – innovating, serving untapped domestic demand and exporting – our whole country shares in their success, through jobs, tax revenue to improve public services and by providing the investment businesses need to grow, manage risk and withstand downturns.
“Their success depends on trust. Trust in financial firms and the services they provide, but also in us, the regulator.
“To deepen trust we must continually show that we are an efficient and effective regulator. One that is proportionate and predictable.
“And to deepen trust in financial services we must ensure the rules which govern the behaviours of those we regulate are fair and allow for open competition, and that those who break them are swiftly held accountable.
“That trust is necessary if people and businesses are to take the crucial decisions necessary to build personal wealth, improve financial resilience and invest in the future.”
Money is all about trust, security, resilience and balancing risk and reward.
Ashley’s outline is followed by the four big themes of the FCA’s five-year strategy, according to Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA. What are they?
- Be a smarter regulator; predictable, purposeful and proportionate. The FCA will improve its processes and embrace technology to become more efficient and effective.
- Support sustained economic growth, by enabling investment, innovation and ensuring the continued competitiveness of the UK’s world-leading financial services.
- Help consumers navigate their financial lives by working with industry to boost trust, product innovation and ensuring the right information and support is available for people to take financial decisions.
- Fight financial crime, focusing on those who seek to use the fact they are regulated to do harm. It will go further to disrupt criminals and support firms to be an effective line of defence.
Our vision: deepening trust, rebalancing risk, supporting growth, improving lives
Our priorities: support growth, fight crime, help consumers and be a smarter regulator
That’s nice and clear. There's also some great slides to steal from:
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...