Who needs to be FCA regulated?

Take a look at our quick read guide on who needs to be FCA regulated and why it's important to be compliant.

3 Mins
  1. Home
  2. Content Hub
  3. Compliance
  4. Who needs to be FCA regulated?

Who are the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)?

Established in April 2013, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) are a conduct regulator for around 51,000 financial firms and financial marketing in the UK. The FCA ensures that there is a fair market for both businesses and consumers, and in order to carry out certain activities, businesses within certain industries need to be regulated. 

The FCA are there to help a smooth operation of the financial markets as this has an impact on daily life for everyone. The FCA also work alongside the PRA (Prudential Regulation Authority) who regulate around 1,500 banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms.    

Who needs to be FCA regulated and why?

  1. Accountancy

  2. Banking & Finance

  1. Credit Institutions

  2. Crytpo

  1. Funeral Plan Providers

    (as of July 2022)

  2. Gambling

  1. Insurance

  2. Investment

  1. Legal

  2. Mortgage Lenders

The FCA requires all of the listed industries to be regulated before they start trading as a business in the relevant market. Not only do they regulate these industries, but supervise firms regularly to ensure there is no foul play, which can lead to enforcement of fines, and possible cease of trading. 

It can often be up to 6 months before firms become regulated due to it being a detailed process, but once a firm is regulated, they are required to adhere to the rules set out by the FCA. 

The rules (as outlined by the FCA) are as follows:

  1. You must act with integrity
  2. You must act with due skill, care and diligence
  3. You must be open and cooperative with the FCA, the PRA and other regulators
  4. You must pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly
As of 29th July 2022, all funeral plan providers and intermediaries who are not already, will be required to be regulated by the FCA. 
 
Being FCA regulated is often seen as the gold standard for financial regulation and will always be outlined on a regulated businesses website. You can see whether a business is FCA regulated by visiting their website here.

How can Creditsafe help with FCA regulation?

  1. AML Checks

    Creditsafe currently help thousands of businesses in the financial industry stay compliant with the current FCA regulations. Our Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks allow our customers to demonstrate regulatory compliance with comprehensive screening and bank data verification, which helps reduce the need and costs associated with physical storage with our paperless audit trial.

  2. Bank data verification

    Our bank data verification allows financial businesses to enrich and enhance their KYC checks, by verifying customer bank data via UK bank records, with access to more bank information than any other UK provider.

  3. ID Scan

    When verifying a client's ID, IDScan can verify a customer's ID in under 10 seconds, providing you with an efficient way of onboarding and running checks on potential clients, whilst reducing the risk associated with onboarding customers. We verify against a national insurance number, a person's drivers licence, passport, bank account details and many more forms of ID.

Want to know how you can run AML checks with Creditsafe? Click our quick how to video below.

Help your regulatory compliance with Creditsafe AML checks

Start your free trial below

View related articles...

Customer stories

Enabling a FinTech to reach its potential

View here

Credit & Risk

Making sure you get paid, even during a lockdown

View here

Business

How to check if a company is legitimate

View here