Written by Zhuan Faraj

On 22 September 2021 Nihkil Rathi, the CEO of the FCA, delivered a speech entitled ‘Seizing opportunitiy: challenges and priorities for the FCA’.

The speech discusses and details three of the FCA’s priorities:

• Testing its powers to their limits, to ensure market integrity and sustain competitiveness. Mr Rathi sets out the FCA’s bolder risk appetite in dealing with serious misconduct, including using criminal powers in the most serious cases. He also explains that the FCA will litigate more if needed, appreciating that legal certainty provides significant benefits for industry.
• Anchoring and shaping international standards. Mr Rathi states that the FCA has been adopting an internationally cooperative approach on a number of issues. For example, the FCA’s first ESG Director, Sacha Sadan, is working with international counterparts on the aim to establish a Sustainability Standards Board under the auspices of the IFRS.
• Becoming as much a data regulator as a financial one. Mr Rathi highlights the FCA’s data and digital focus, for example noting that the firm he has met most so far as FCA CEO is not a purely financial services firm, but in fact Google, the main topic of discussion being online safety for retail financial services consumers. Mr Rathi states that the FCA is investing in its own capabilities in order to support the focus on data and digital.

In his speech, Mr Rathi calls on the financial services industry to work with and support the FCA on these priorities.

 The speech can be read in full here.