FCA Enforcement Watch 1: Transparency, Priorities, and Global Coordination in 2026

The FCA’s first Enforcement Watch newsletter of 2026 outlines the current priorities of its enforcement function and clarifies how the regulator is implementing its revised publicity policy following the June 2025 updates to the Enforcement Guide (ENFG). The growing importance of international cooperation in driving crossborder enforcement and criminal investigations is also emphasised.

1) Publicity Policy in Action

Following the June 2025 update to the Enforcement Guide, the FCA has begun applying a more transparent approach to announcing enforcement investigations. The FCA reiterates it will not usually publicise investigations, but it may do so in certain circumstances, including:

naming a firm in “exceptional circumstances
confirming an investigation where it is already public (e.g., firm announcements)
announcing an investigation without naming the firm
publicising suspected unauthorised business to protect consumers or support the investigation

The FCA points firms to ENFG 4.1 on investigation publicity, including factors in ENFG 4.1.4G (e.g., consumer/investor protection, maintaining confidence, preventing widespread malpractice, supporting the investigation, and ensuring markets function smoothly).

2) Key Case Study: TCPA and Motor Finance Claims Promotions

The FCA highlights its investigation into The Claims Protection Agency Limited (TCPA) relating to motor finance claims promotions/communications. The FCA says its work includes examining whether customers were:

misled about likely redress amounts
told they could claim for free
pressurised to sign up

The FCA stresses it has not reached conclusions. It also notes TCPA challenged the decision to name it by judicial review; the FCA reports the challenge was dismissed and permission to appeal refused.

3) Enforcement Case Priorities

The FCA indicates a pipeline of cases involving:

Consumer Duty / fair value (including insurance)
individual accountability and misconduct
listed issuer disclosures/market conduct
unauthorised business (including cryptoasset activity and related perimeter issues)
operational/thirdparty control weaknesses that lead to consumer harm
financial crime systems and controls concerns

The FCA also signals that enforcement is used when supervisory engagement fails, particularly where firms are not transparent, do not remediate issues promptly, or cause significant consumer harm.

4) International Partnerships

The FCA highlights the increasing importance of international cooperation in tackling financial crime and market abuse, reinforced by its leadership role within IOSCO and the 476 information requests exchanged in 2025. Crossborder collaboration is accelerating investigations through faster access to banking data, communications, and witness evidence, supported by tools such as Overseas Production Orders under the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act (COPO), which has reduced US dataaccess timelines from over a year to weeks. The FCA also worked with IOSCO on onlinefraud initiatives and led a coordinated crackdown on illegal finfluencers in 2025.

Next Steps for Firms

Firms must maintain robust controls, communicate transparently, and respond swiftly to supervisory concerns to avoid facing decisive enforcement action. To stay aligned with regulatory expectations, firms should:

reassess when and how the firm might face investigation publicity risk under ENFG 4.1 (including communications planning);
tighten review/approval of financial promotions and customer communications, especially where massmarket claims, high consumer interest, or “free money” style messaging could arise;
ensure Consumer Duty (fair value) monitoring and remediation is evidentially robust (particularly in insurance/manufacturing/distribution chains);
refresh controls over outsourcing/third parties and incident response where service failures could create consumer harm; and
check perimeter exposure to unauthorised business, including crypto-related relationships.

How Complyport Can Help?

Complyport can assist firms to assess enforcement/investigation readiness (ENFG 4.1) through enforcement exposure, creating an investigation response playbook, and set communications protocols for “publicity risk” scenarios. We can also support with:

Consumer Duty & fair value: completing a Consumer Duty gap analysis, testing fair value frameworks/MI and supporting remediation with an FCA-ready evidence pack.
Financial promotions & customer communications: reviewing approval/monitoring controls, testing high-risk messaging (e.g., “free”/redress claims, urgency) and strengthening affiliate/introducer oversight.
Operational & thirdparty controls: reviewing outsourcing governance, SLAs/KPIs, incident response and customer harm triggers (complaints backlogs, service disruption, claims handling).
Financial crime & perimeter: performing AML/control health-checks and assessing exposure to unauthorised business (including crypto-related relationships).
Training: providing targeted sessions for SMFs and key functions on Consumer Duty, promotions, recordkeeping and regulatory engagement.