On 28 March 2024, the UK Financial Conduct Authority published a statement about the joint-authority Memorandum of Understanding which is in place between the FCA, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator.
The statement confirms those authorities have carried out their eighth review of the MoU in 2023.
The key points are the authorities:
– consider their co-operation is “working well”;
– continue to exchange “expertise, information and data related to regulated activities”;
– continue to “work together closely on issues of common regulatory interest and seek to avoid duplication in their requirements and engagement with industry”;
– have “identified areas for future co-operation and co-ordination, including revisions to the MoU regarding proposed stablecoin regulation, embedding the reforms from the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (FSMA 2023), as well as further enhancing the sharing of information and data”; and
– will continue “to work, as needed, with the Treasury in its preparation of a National Payments Vision”.
Firms will therefore need to be acutely aware of the overlap, and co-operation, between authorities throughout their engagement and interaction with those authorities.