Horizon scanning: FCA's anticipated priorities for 2026

As we start 2026, the FCA is sharpening its focus on key strategic priorities to shape a fair, stable, and innovative financial services market. In line with its 5-year strategy published in March last year, the FCA has identified four broad priority areas to help the industry prosper and improve consumer outcomes.

These include supporting sustainable growth and innovation, becoming a smarter data-driven regulator, helping consumers navigate their financial lives, and fighting financial crime. Below we break down these priorities into key topics, outlining the FCA's stated objectives and considering how they will affect firms and consumers in the financial services sector over the coming year.

Strengthening consumer protection and the Consumer Duty

Consumer Duty enforcement

We anticipate that one of the FCA's flagship initiatives – the Consumer Duty – will evolve from the implementation phase to active supervision and enforcement in 2026. Firms are now expected not only to comply with the new higher standards of consumer protection, but to demonstrate that they are delivering good customer outcomes in practice.

The FCA will scrutinise whether products offer fair value, terms are transparent, and customers (especially those in vulnerable circumstances) receive appropriate support. Financial institutions should be prepared for detailed reviews of their pricing structures, product governance and treatment of consumers in difficulty.

Vulnerable customers and BNPL

Protecting financially vulnerable customers remains high on the FCA's agenda. The regulator will pay particular attention to sectors like high-cost consumer credit, 'buy now, pay later' (BNPL) products and complex investments.

With BNPL providers coming into the FCA's regulatory perimeter in July 2026, third-party lenders will be required to be authorised and comply with FCA rules, ensuring consumer protection and responsible lending practices. Key proposals include conducting creditworthiness assessments, providing clear information on repayment terms and supporting customers facing financial difficulty. The FCA is prioritising the price and value outcome under the Consumer Duty – expecting firms to use robust analysis to ensure they offer fair value.

Car finance redress

The FCA continues to address past harms through redress schemes. For instance, it has published plans to compensate millions of borrowers who were sold car finance with undisclosed commissions. Customers who took out car loans between 2007 and 2024 could receive refunds averaging £700 per loan.

Final rules are expected in early 2026. This massive remediation effort – potentially over £8 billion in payouts if around 85% of eligible customers take part – highlights the FCA's willingness to tackle industry-wide misconduct and will compel lenders and brokers to improve transparency.

Insurance markets

Following Which?’s super complaint last year, the FCA is expanding the work it had planned to improve standards in the home and travel insurance markets. Over the course of 2026, the FCA will do more to improve claims handling by reviewing firms’ customer service and delivery and how it oversees third parties that handle claims, as well as improving consumer understanding of what their insurance covers by analysing the different ways firms are selling products.

Closing the advice gap and supporting investors

A notable development for 2026 is the FCA's push to bridge the 'advice gap' and encourage better investment outcomes. The FCA is rolling out a new 'Targeted Support' regime in April 2026 aimed at helping people make sound financial decisions about their savings, investments and pensions. 

This initiative will allow regulated firms to offer tailored guidance to groups of consumers – especially those with unmanaged cash or undiversified portfolios – without crossing into full financial advice. By easing certain advice rules, the FCA hopes firms can confidently guide mass-market consumers towards suitable investments. About 18 million people could benefit over the next decade.

For financial advisers and wealth managers, this presents both opportunity and challenge: new simplified advisory services can be developed, but firms must ensure any guidance is fair, in customers' best interests, and compliant with safeguards against mis-selling. The FCA will require firms offering "targeted support" to obtain specific authorisations and comply with strict oversight.

Fighting financial crime and fraud

Combatting financial crime remains a core FCA priority. Fraud, scams, and money laundering continue to pose high risks to consumers and market integrity. We expect 2026 to bring deeper cooperation between the FCA and bodies like the National Crime Agency to disrupt criminal networks. Firms will see more aggressive supervision of their anti-money laundering systems – with the FCA examining customer due diligence, transaction monitoring and fraud prevention technology.

The FCA is also targeting sectors where rapid growth may have outpaced compliance. Smaller payment and e-money firms have been highlighted as potentially vulnerable, since fast expansion in fintech payments could leave compliance frameworks lagging. In 2026, the FCA plans more targeted inspections to ensure robust controls are in place. All firms should review their financial crime controls and prepare for the FCA's increasingly proactive approach.

Fostering competition, innovation and crypto regulation

Supporting healthy competition and innovation is another explicit FCA priority for 2026. The UK is keen to retain its status as a global fintech hub, so the FCA will continue initiatives like regulatory sandboxes to help new entrants bring products to market safely whilst upholding high conduct standards.

Perhaps the most significant changes will come from evolving crypto asset regulation. Late 2025 saw the UK Government propose new legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies similarly to traditional financial products. The FCA launched a consultation on balancing innovation in digital assets with strong consumer protections. By mid-2026, we expect the government to finalise the new crypto regulatory framework.

Crypto trading platforms will likely begin preparing for an FCA authorisation regime – building compliance functions, meeting transparency standards, and bolstering system resilience. The FCA sees potential in assets like stablecoins and tokenised securities but remains wary of systemic and consumer risks.

Enhancing market integrity and resilience

The FCA's priorities for 2026 include a strong emphasis on market integrity – ensuring the financial system and its firms can withstand shocks and disruptions. UK financial services firms were required to implement the bulk of the UK’s operational resilience requirements by March 2025, and as we enter 2026 the focus shifts on supervisory scrutiny and testing firms' resilience and recovery capabilities. Firms must demonstrate they can withstand system failures, cyberattacks, or liquidity stresses without major consumer harm.

The FCA will also monitor emerging risks outside traditional banking, including hedge funds, private equity, and other 'non-bank' financial intermediaries. Asset managers can expect scrutiny of fund liquidity management – a lesson learned from recent stress events in open-ended funds and pension LDI strategies.

Driving sustainable finance and ESG standards

Sustainability remains a prominent theme in the FCA's 2026 agenda. The regulator is pushing for higher standards in how firms design and market 'green' products, ensuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims are credible. New rules on sustainability disclosures and investment labels are expected to take effect.

Asset managers and product providers will be required to provide clearer, comparable information about the environmental impact of investments, enabling consumers to trust that ESG-labelled products genuinely meet standards. A core aim is to stamp out greenwashing – misleading sustainability claims – by imposing robust governance and oversight.

A smarter, data-driven regulator

Underpinning all these priorities is the FCA's transformation into a more proactive and data-driven regulator. The FCA has committed to becoming a "smarter regulator" – one that is predictable, purposeful, and efficient, leveraging technology and data to enhance effectiveness. Regulators are employing real-time analytics, machine learning tools, and sector-wide data feeds to spot potential harm faster.

Compliance expectations are rising. Companies may face higher upfront costs to meet new standards, particularly around AML systems, ESG reporting, and operational resilience planning. Smaller firms might feel this burden most, though the FCA insists it will apply rules proportionately. Larger institutions will need to revisit internal cultures – training staff, adjusting incentive structures, and enhancing governance – to ensure they truly put customers at the centre of their business models.

Conclusion

The FCA's priorities for 2026 signal a regulatory environment that is both more demanding and more supportive of genuine innovation. Firms that proactively embrace these changes – investing in robust compliance frameworks, prioritising customer outcomes, and maintaining transparent practices – will be best positioned to succeed. The message is clear: good conduct is no longer simply a regulatory obligation but a competitive advantage.

As the FCA becomes more data-driven and interventionist, financial services firms must demonstrate not just technical compliance but a fundamental commitment to serving customers fairly. Those that rise to this challenge will find themselves well-placed to thrive in an evolving market that increasingly rewards integrity, resilience and innovation in equal measure.