Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).

The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA.

Its role includes protecting consumers, keeping the industry stable, and promoting healthy competition between financial service providers.

The FCA publishes and updates a guide handbook that sets out the rules, guidance, and provisions made by the FCA under its powers.

The FCA has supervisory authorities overall financial services firms conducting regulated activities, such as offering loans, car financing deals, any consumer credit.

Investment firms carrying on certain activities concerning financial instruments such as shares and bonds, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) requires you to be authorized.

Businesses are providing pre-paid cards or other such financial services, money transfers, E-money, and credit cards.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Explained

The Financial Conduct Authority is responsible for all financial activities conducted in the UK or by UK citizens.

Parliament gave the FCA a single strategic objective – to ensure that relevant markets function well – and three operational goals to advance, i.e. protecting consumers, integrity, and promoting competition.

The FCA has been instrumental in policing the forex industry, including curbing market abuse in the form of scams, schemes, clones, etc.

Recent years has seen the authority take a harder stance on investment products, including forex, contracts-for-difference (CFDs), and binary options.