Rule Changes Proposed by Financial Regulator to Boost Investment

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out plans to simplify the information supplied to investors to boost confidence and drive investment.

Under the current rules, introduced across Europe when the UK was in the EU, people buying investments like investment funds are supplied with standardised documents covering prescribed information. In practice these documents were often complex, unclear and could miss important points. This could put people off investing or lead them to make less informed decisions.

The FCA has proposed replacing this with a simpler and flexible system which is tailored to the UK. Firms will be given more choice about how, what and when they communicate. The FCA has also set out some detailed requirements where it is really necessary to ensure consistency and comparability across the market to help consumers.

Under the proposals, new product information requirements would help consumers understand the products they are buying while giving firms flexibility to innovate.

Simon Walls, Interim Executive Director of Markets at the FCA, said, “The way people invest has changed. We want to ensure that firms can communicate with their customers in a way that gets them the information they need when they need it. High quality product information will give consumers the confidence to invest; increased participation in this market will not only benefit consumers but will also provide capital to drive the economy and boost growth.”

The proposals set out the FCA’s ambition of building a new, bolder regime and it is open minded about how it can be designed. It welcomes views through the consultation about how best to design an outcomes-focused regulation that is fit for many years to come.