Firms’ Confidence, Satisfaction and Trust in the FCA Rise

Importance of Regulatory Relationships and Firm Sentiment

A constructive and effective relationship between regulated firms and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is vital to maintaining the stability, integrity, and international competitiveness of the UK financial services sector. When regulated firms have trust and confidence in their supervisor, compliance becomes more proactive, supervisory dialogue becomes clearer, and strategic regulatory implementations such as the Consumer Duty can be embedded more effectively across the market. Regular assessment of firm sentiment provides crucial benchmark insights into how regulatory supervisory strategies, policy changes, and communication channels are performing in practice.

The FCA’s Stance

In October 2026, the FCA published the results of its latest annual FCA and Practitioner Panel survey, demonstrating significant year-on-year improvements in regulated firms’ overall satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the regulator:

Overall Satisfaction: 79% of regulated firms reported high satisfaction with their ongoing relationship with the FCA, up from 74% in the previous survey.
Regulatory Effectiveness: 76% of firms rated the FCA as a highly effective regulator, reflecting an increase from 69% in the prior year.
High Levels of Trust: 75% of firms reported high levels of trust in the FCA.
Core Regulatory Pillars: Confidence remained highest across the FCA’s core remit, with 87% expressing confidence in consumer protection, 85% in market integrity, and 85% in maintaining the overall integrity of the UK financial system.
Secondary Growth and Competitiveness Objective: The survey highlighted substantial momentum in understanding and confidence surrounding the FCA’s Secondary International Competitiveness and Growth Objective, demonstrating a 27-percentage-point rise in firm understanding and a 25-percentage-point increase in confidence regarding its delivery.

The results also reflected a strong, widespread understanding among firms regarding Consumer Duty expectations, with 88% of firms reporting that they understood the FCA’s expectations for supporting consumers and embedding the Duty.

Since the survey was conducted, the FCA has continued to progress landmark regulatory initiatives. These include modernising the UK redress framework in tandem with HM Treasury and the Financial Ombudsman Service, supporting the industry’s delivery of the Advice Guidance Boundary Review, regulating Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) products, and establishing new regulatory frameworks for cryptoassets and private markets.

Key Areas for Compliance with FCA Expectations

The upward trend in regulatory satisfaction and trust highlights critical focus areas for authorised firms seeking to align with the regulator’s evolving expectations:

Consumer Duty Embedding

Firms must continue demonstrating tangible, outcome-focused evidence of compliance and fair value across their product life cycles.

Alignment with Competitiveness & Growth

As the FCA sharpens its focus on market competitiveness, firms should adapt by streamlining operational frameworks while upholding strict compliance standards.

Proactive Risk Management & Governance

Effective supervisory engagement requires transparent, proactive communication during supervisory interactions and prompt notification of significant regulatory matters, where required under Principle 11 and SUP 15.3 of the FCA Handbook.

Redress & Dispute Framework Awareness

Firms must stay aligned with evolving guidance regarding complaints handling, modernised redress processes, and advice boundary guidelines.

Adaptation to Emerging Regulatory Horizons

Regulated entities must ensure robust compliance frameworks, where applicable, for expanding regulatory regimes, including Buy Now Pay Later regulation, cryptoasset oversight, and the governance of AI use.

How Complyport can Help

Complyport provides expert regulatory compliance, risk management and governance advisory services to help firms navigate the evolving regulatory landscape and meet FCA expectations.

Our experienced team can support firms through:

Consumer Duty Compliance: Reviewing Consumer Duty frameworks, fair value assessments and consumer outcomes monitoring.
FCA Regulatory Compliance Reviews: Conducting compliance gap analyses and regulatory health checks against FCA Handbook requirements.
Regulatory Engagement Support: Assisting firms with FCA supervisory interactions, regulatory enquiries and notifications.
Risk Management and Governance: Reviewing governance arrangements, risk management frameworks and regulatory reporting processes.
Complaints Handling and Redress: Assessing complaints management procedures against FCA DISP requirements.
Regulatory Change Management: Supporting firms in preparing for developments relating to BNPL, cryptoassets and the Advice Guidance Boundary Review.