On June 3, 2025, the UK Financial Conduct Authority released an updated version of its Enforcement Guide to provide the public with more streamlined and focused guidance after determining that the previous guide that had grown significantly since it was first published in 2007. The new Guide, which was reduced by more than 250 pages, contains a number of changes, including a discussion on the FCA’s revised enforcement approach that aims to perform investigations more thoroughly and promptly in an effort to address wrongdoing quickly. The FCA also indicated that it intends to significantly accelerate investigations after finding that the length of the average investigation was too long. The Authority also “raised the bar for opening an investigation” and strengthened its pre-investigation assessment processes, which should result in fewer and faster investigations. The FCA emphasized that any changes contained in the new Enforcement Guide would be applied to investigations launched after June 3, 2025, the date of Guide’s publication.
While the FCA’s primary objective was to provide greater transparency in investigations, the FCA confirmed that it will retain its policy of only announcing investigations into regulated and listed firms under “exceptional circumstances,” but identified three situations where the ”exceptional circumstances” test would not apply. The first enables the FCA to make an announcement to issue a warning or alert to consumers (or investors) or to elicit a response from potential witnesses if an investigation involves suspected unauthorized financial services or a suspected offense related to an unregulated activity. The second allows the FCA to publicly confirm that a party is the subject of an investigation if an affiliated company or regulatory body has already disclosed it. The third situation enables the FCA may make an anonymized announcement in order to educate the public about the types of misconduct being investigated.
FCA News Release | FCA Publication – Policy Statement Summary | FCA Policy Statement (PS25/5)