He said: “I spoke earlier about data, and it is mind boggling to think that through our market oversight team, we received over 7bn transaction reports from over 1,300 UK firms last year. We receive over 500mn order book records every day.
“Even ingesting this amount of data is a feat but this information is not just collected by us, it is analysed and developed to create tangible outcomes. We use this data to investigate regulatory breaches as well as to detect insider dealing and market abuse.”
Smart addressed what he called the “elephant in the room” which was the FCA’s recent name and shame proposals.
“We have consulted very widely, and we are grateful for the many responses we have received. We will review the responses and will continue the engagement with industry and other interested parties – as Nikhil Rathi, our chief executive, said to parliament recently – we will take our time to consider the right way forward over the next few months,” he added.
Smart also said the FCA was focused on increasing the pace of its investigations which it would achieve by focusing resources on a streamlined caseload of investigations, aligning to the regulator’s priorities.
He concluded: “We must all invest in the capabilities and relationships that will prevent and pursue those who seek to undermine our hard-won reputation as one of the world’s leading financial services sectors.”
alina.khan@ft.com
