Watchdog's Bailey hints at ‘radically different’ future 

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Watchdog's Bailey hints at ‘radically different’ future 

Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Andrew Bailey has outlined his vision to break with the past in favour of a “radically different” future for financial services regulation.

In a paper launching the regulator’s ‘Mission’, the FCA chief reeled off a list of the recent failures in the sector – from the financial crisis, to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance and interest rate hedging products to Libor rigging.

He branded it a “sorry history”, saying, “the future needs to be radically different from the past. We owe this to the public who are the consumers of financial services”.

His comments prefaced a consultation on the FCA’s mission, launched today (26 October), which discusses the wide remit of the regulator, and is heavily consumer focused.

It included questions on protecting consumers, such as what is the right level of consumer protection in an environment where they are increasingly expected to take responsibility for their own financial decisions, and how does the FCA  balance the responsibilities of firms and consumers?

It also asks should the FCA prioritise the protection of vulnerable consumers and if so how?

Another topic was what should the role of the FCA be in redress schemes, for example in dealing with activity outside the FCA’s remit.

It also sought feedback on when the FCA intervenes – how the FCA identifies harm and how it decides which approach to take to address it.

The scope of regulation was another issue raised by the statement, for example the FCA acting on unregulated activities.

Mr Bailey, who has been in the top job for four months, said the aim of the mission statement and consultation was to create a “clear understanding of the FCA’s remit and ensure it is well communicated and understood”.

He called for “input from as many parties as possible” to the consultation.

laura.miller@ft.com