“Regulation can aid growth by cementing the hard-won reputation of our financial markets as a safe and rewarding place to invest.
“Resilient, transparent, and efficient UK capital markets fosters trust amongst investors both from the UK and overseas.”
To do this, the UK needs trusted capital markets, operated by trusted financial professionals, Mills explained.
“We will continue to play our role in ensuring that we have safe, stable, and fair markets which are efficient and support the flow of capital and investment the UK needs.”
Operational efficiency
To effectively regulate and to drive competitiveness and growth, Mills said the FCA must be efficient as a regulator.
“Our own operational efficiency is - rightly - always under scrutiny,” he said. “We will continue to increase the use of data, technological and human resources.”
He explained that the FCA speaks with many FinTechs and finance businesses seeking to do business in the UK, and they say two things: first, they want to be authorised here because of the stable system of regulation, and second, they raise concerns about cost and time to get authorised.
“We’ve listened to this feedback, and we are tackling our authorisations backlog, reducing it by 60 per cent recently,” he said.
“We are trialling automated forms which should speed up the process and our future of data collections programme aims to make it more cost effective for firms to supply us with the data we need.”
Mills said the FCA’s focus on efficiency and effectiveness extends to its rule-making.
The FCA is responsible for transferring into UK law nearly 90 per cent of the EU files relating to financial services.
“We can decide to repeal or replace them with rules better tailored to our needs,” he said.
“At all times during this mammoth task, we will remain focused on delivering against all of our statutory objectives, including how any changes can further growth and competitiveness.
“We want consumers and markets to capture the benefits these changes will bring, while managing the costs regulatory change puts on industry.”
Ultimately, Mills said the FCA wants its handbook and rules to be as clear and as they can be for new entrants and existing players alike.
He said this was a significant opportunity for the UK’s financial services sector.
“As we take on this challenge, we want the industry to be involved in shaping the future,” he added.
Wider eco-system
Elsewhere, Mills said there are many factors the FCA does not control when it comes to growth and competitiveness of the economy.
Factors such as the geo-political environment, taxation, investment in infrastructure, immigration, demographics, and many more besides, are vital, he explained.
