Financial Conduct Authority

From September 2026, the FCA will extend rules on non-financial misconduct beyond banks to 37,000 other regulated firms. The FCA has confirmed that serious bullying and harassment in financial firms qualify as misconduct, which was previously often unclear. Serious cases of poor personal behaviour will need to be shared through regulatory references, making it more difficult for individuals seeking to avoid consequences by moving from firm to firm.

This year, the cryptoasset sector will need to prepare for increased FCA regulation, following the publication of a number of the outstanding elements of the forthcoming framework at the end of 2025, including the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2025 and three further FCA consultation papers. The FCA anticipates that all final rules will be published in 2026 and the new regulatory regime will go live on 25 October 2027. The FCA aims to align with international standards and has said it will consider how it can allow firms from countries that may not have such stringent rules around market abuse and financial crime to do business in the UK.

Regulatory divergence between the UK and EU will continue to increase, meaning firms should review business models and compliance strategies to remain competitive. Legacy EU regulations will continue to be repealed and replaced by rules in the FCA and PRA rulebooks. The new, slightly simplified capital rules for MIFIDPRU investment firms will enter into force in April 2026, with a review of the requirements applicable to principal trading firms coming later in the year. Organisations will be preparing for the UK’s tailored capital regime for smaller banks (the small domestic deposit takers regime), which will enter into force on 1 January 2027.

A number of initiatives related to the Leeds Reforms are slated for 2026. The FCA will roll out the new Targeted Support Regime in April to allow banks and other firms to provide general investment recommendations to groups of consumers to encourage them to move money from low-interest cash accounts into investments. The new Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations (POATRs) framework and related FCA rules enter into force on 19 January 2026, aiming to streamline and reduce the cost of raising capital for companies and encourage more retail participation in the corporate bond markets.

This is set to be a particularly busy year in the payments space following the consolidation of the Payments Systems Regulator into the FCA to simplify the UK’s payments regulatory environment. The National Payments Vision is now moving into delivery stage, with a real ramp up of the work relating to the future retail payments infrastructure in the UK expected this year. As well as payments firms having to grapple with the new client money safeguarding rules coming into force in May, significant progress on open banking initiatives is also expected, with the legislation setting out the new regulatory framework expected to be put in place imminently. The Payments Forward Plan will also be published in 2026 and will set out a sequenced plan of initiatives across the payments ecosystem. Firms wishing to influence the future of the payments infrastructure should engage with the FCA.