FCA publishes update on Independent Review implementation

The FCA has published a report providing an update on the implementation of recommendations from two Independent Reviews, these being:

• the Independent Investigation into the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulation of London Capital & Finance plc (the Gloster Report); and
• the Independent Review into the FSA and FCA’s handling of the Connaught Income Fund Series 1 and connected companies (the Parker Report).

The report identifies that, over the past 12 months, the FCA has:

• improved the knowledge and capability of its staff, leading to a more assertive approach;
• taken robust action to tackle fraud;
• reinforced its data capability to get better insights, enabling more effective supervision and enforcement.

The FCA notes that it has taken a range of actions to address the recommendations in both the Gloster and Parker Reports, including by implementing new policies and running staff training sessions. The report also sets out the five lessons that it has learnt from the report into the Connaught Income Fund. As a summary, the FCA acknowledges that it needs to continue to learn, and embed lessons learnt into the organisation through the transformation budget, but identifies the need to prioritise resources.

The report is available on the FCA’s website, alongside a commitment to provide a full update in relation to the review of the Connaught Income Fund in its 2022 annual report.