In a speech at the Investment Association’s webinar on 8 July, Christopher Woolard, the Interim Chief Executive at the FCA, delivered a speech on the role of investment managers as part of the nation’s post Covid-10 recovery. In his speech, Mr Woolard commended the resilience of the fund management industry for its considerable resilience in the face of volatile market conditions. In relation to the challenges ahead for the industry, key highlights in Mr Woolard’s speech were as follows:

• The FCA invites views from the industry on whether there are some types of companies who will find access to public markets limited as they seek to recapitalise post crisis and, if so, why that is. As part of this discussion, the FCA will be open to ideas about whether the current framework creates the right opportunities for both issuers and investors, as long as those suggestions are underpinned by investor protection.
• The FCA is seeking outcome-based regulation and the Covid crisis and Brexit have reinforced this need. The FCA believes that there is now an opportunity to look again at its rulebook and focus less on tick box compliance and more on promoting outcomes that serve the public interest.

For further details a copy of the full speech can be found here.