In May, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cited staff resourcing as a risk in achieving priority commitments such as reducing and preventing financial crime and preparing financial services for the future. That’s according to an official report, Financial services regulation: Adapting to change.
The National Audit Office (NAO) reported on the FCA which regulates financial services firms and financial markets in the UK. The FCA has four business plan commitments it is prioritising: preparing financial services for the future; putting consumers’ needs first; reducing and preventing financial crime; and strengthening the UK’s position in global wholesale markets.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “The FCA is undergoing significant reform, responding to changes in the financial services regulatory framework and making operational changes intended to improve performance. Its work includes a series of measures to re-shape the organisation and respond to its new role under the Financial Services and Markets Act.
“The FCA must complete its work on optimising its use of data, assessing whether it is achieving the outcomes it intends and whether it is able to direct resources to where they can have most impact. It must also be clear about which of the long list of activities it is monitoring internally are its priorities. If the FCA can do this, it will be well placed to meet the challenges of the changing environment in which it operates.”
Staffing
The audit found some high staff turnover. The FCA has recruited to meet turnover rates of more than 17 per cent in each of the last two years, alongside its overall increase in staffing, requiring recruiting and training more than 2,000 new members of staff, the auditors found. While voluntary turnover for the FCA as a whole has come back down to pre-covid-19 pandemic levels, it remains high in some specific areas, according to the NAO.
You can read the report at https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/financial-services-regulation-adapting-to-change/.
