Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the Financial Conduct Authority in its secondary international competitiveness and growth objective.

Since the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) secondary international competitiveness and growth objective in 2023, the FCA has made meaningful progress in working to further the objective. For example, last year, the FCA consulted on proposals that will reduce reporting requirements for more than 36,000 firms, with expected annual savings of over £28 million. The FCA also recently launched the Scale-Up Unit jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority, which will make it simpler for scaling firms to get timely responses to regulatory queries and access expert support. This will support entrepreneurs to focus on developing new products, hiring staff, and bringing investment into local economies.

The Government welcomes the two reports the FCA published in 2024 and 2025, and the accompanying metrics, outlining the FCA’s performance against the objective, as well as the letters from the FCA Chief Executive to the Prime Minister in January 2025 and December 2025 to outline progress on almost 50 measures to support growth through financial services regulation.

The Treasury continues to work closely with the FCA to hold it to account and challenge it to go further to support the government’s growth mission while furthering its objectives. This includes through the regular performance reviews the Economic Secretary holds with the FCA Chief Executive, introduced in 2025 as part of the government’s wider Regulation Action Plan.