The FCA has revealed that its Consumer Duty priorities for the coming months will include looking at targeted support for pension savers.

It is consulting on proposals for targeted support which would allow regulated firms to provide support to pension savers in a new way.

Then in H1 2025, it plans to consult on rules for better support for consumers in retail investments and pensions. 

The FCA will also be continuing its study of the treatment of interest on cash balances on investment platforms and by SIPP operators.

The regulator said it will be tackling concerns about how the two deal with interest. It said it is already engaging with firms where it has concerns.

The regulator also plans to focus on wealth managers’ poor identification of clients with characteristics of vulnerability. It said it will be engaging with firms and collaborating with the industry to raise standards, drawing on the wider vulnerability review. It will provide specific firm feedback In H1 2025 and take appropriate regulatory action if necessary.

It will also consult on draft rules this quarter on the Packaged Retail and Insurance-Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation/Consumer Composite Investments (CCIs) Regulation.

It plans to repeal and replace the retained EU PRIIPs regulation, “with a new UK retail disclosure regime that works effectively for the UK’s dynamic capital markets and fosters informed retail investor participation.”

The details were published in its Consumer Duty focus areas for the remainder of FY24/25.

More widely the regulator said it will be assessing across sectors how firms are implementing and complying with the Consumer Duty. That will include a review assessing firms’ approach to the treatment of customers in vulnerable circumstances.

It will also undertake a review looking at how firms support their customers across the customer journey and how they are using communications to support informed consumer decision-making.

The FCA said: “The Consumer Duty is one of the most significant changes to our regulatory approach in recent years.

“Reducing the complexity of our rulebook could lower costs, encourage innovation and help support the risk appetite needed to support growth, ultimately boosting international competitiveness and the economy over the long-term.”