FCA seeks to increase collaboration with RegTech community

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the feedback received to its call for input on supporting the development and adopters of RegTech, and outlined its approach to RegTech for 2016/17.

The UK financial regulatory authority issued the RegTech Call for Input (CFI) in November 2015 to seek broader views on how it should progress and prioritise its work in this space. It started exploring how regulatory requirements and technology could come together through RegTech in the first half of 2015, following the success of Project Innovate, launched in October 2014, which aimed to encourage new innovation in financial services markets.

“This was in line with both the Government Office for Science review on how to support growth and development of the UK’s FinTech market (the FinTech Futures Report) and the call for regulators to engage with RegTech by the Chancellor in the March 2015 Budget”, the FCA said.

It stated that it received an outstanding level of interest from across the financial services market, including established financial services firms, technology suppliers and FinTech start-ups. There were more than 350 responses, of which 43% were from technology suppliers, 23% from financial services organisations (banks, building societies, payment providers, think-tanks and trade bodies) and 23% consultancies.

“An indication of how important the industry sees RegTech was shown by the engagement from Board level or senior leadership. This group made up over 60% of those who engaged with us through the call for input, roundtables and bilateral meetings”, the FCA added.

The regulator said that creating a competitive marketplace is its priority, adding that its approach to RegTech is a core part of delivering its Innovation and Technology priority theme for 2016/2017.

“We agree with the sentiment that the FCA has an active role to play in RegTech. We intend to concentrate our efforts on increasing our engagement and collaboration with the RegTech community, using our convening authority to help bring together market participants to work on shared challenges; and to act as a catalyst for change that helps to unlock the potential benefits of technology innovation”, it added.

In conclusion, the FCA said that it ultimately seeks to promote an industry where consumers have the appropriate level of protection and suitable access to the benefits of RegTech and FinTech.