FCA speech on drivers of change in the financial services industry

Written by Zhuan Faraj

On 2 November 2021, the FCA published a speech by Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, at the CDO Exchange for Financial Services.

The speech notes that the threat landscape has shifted for consumers, with fraudsters and scammers benefitting from new technologies and new consumers being drawn to high risk markets and products, motivated by competition with friends, family, acquaintances and the influence of social media. In order to tackle the challenges faced by consumers and industry, the FCA acknowledges it must make the best use of its own resources – connecting the dots in terms of intelligence across the organisation, drawing on strategies and approaches from data science, and leveraging data to create new tools and techniques which allow the FCA to detect harm and intervene more quickly.

The speech also notes that the FCA also has a vital role in enabling the fintech sector to achieve its potential and position the UK at the forefront of technological growth.

A number of FCA workstreams are identified in the speech:

• Aiming to define and codify “paths to harm” (behaviours and events known as likely to end in consumer harm or markets failing to function).
• Collaborating with industry and experts to work through issues around greater use of machine learning and AI.
• Publishing (shortly) a refreshed Data Strategy, which will elaborate on the FCA’s plans to invest heavily in its data capabilities.

The speech can be read in full here.