Issues affecting the Financial Conduct Authority are outlined by Niall Hearty

Niall Hearty wrote a piece that assessed the challenges that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) looks likely to face in the near future.

Niall explains that while the most recent statistics for fines issued by the FCA can be taken as an indicator that it is “on the front foot’’ when it comes to holding people to account, that is not the full picture.

The FCA, he argues, has much to live up to. The FCA’s new Customer Duty represents what it has called the setting of higher expectations for the standard of care firms give consumers. But, according to Niall, it can also be seen as a raising of the FCA’s obligations.

With this set to happen as the FCA’s current Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, Mark Steward, is about to leave, Niall believes this could place increased demands on the regulator.

He concludes that a clearer assessment of the FCA’s effectiveness may be possible a year from now.

Niall’s article featured in The Expert Witness.