The FCA’s remit should be extended to improving people’s long-term financial well-being, Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of policy says.

Tom McPhail made the comments after the FCA yesterday published its business plan for the year 2019/19. 

Mr McPhail highlighted “one notable development” in the plan as the scheduled publication of an Occasional Paper on Savings adequacy, due in Q4 2018/19.

He said: “There’s a strong case to be made for extending the FCA’s statutory remit beyond its current three objectives, to include an additional provision around actively seeking improvements to individuals’ long-term financial well-being. In the meantime, a paper looking at savings adequacy will be a step in the right direction.”

The FCA’s three operational objectives are: Protect consumers; Protect the integrity of the market; Promote competition.

Regarding pensions and retirement savings, Hargreaves Lansdown called for “vital policy interventions”, saying these are “needed to stimulate consumer engagement and competition”.

In a statement, the firm said: “The next evolution of auto-enrolment should be to give individuals the right to choose their workplace pension provider if they want to, rather than forcing them to take on a new pension provider chosen by their employer every time they change jobs.”