The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation on its proposed changes to various aspects of the FCA Handbook. The changes are:

1. Clarification of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s rules on bringing claims against appointed representatives and principals, so that the FSCS will only be able to consider one protected claim against either an appointed representative or a principal;
2. Changes to the Listing Rules requirements for documents to be on display, to clarify that Sale and Purchase Agreements do not have to be made available online;
3. Amendments to the Listing Rules to include a requirement that issuers with securities admitted to the U.K.’s Official List should keep at least one of either: (i) the securities’ approved prospectus or listing particulars; (ii) the document containing the terms and conditions of the securities; or (iii) a description of the rights attached to the securities publicly available in the National Storage Mechanism;
4. Amendments to the sections of the Handbook related to the giving of pensions guidance to align the Handbook with the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018, which repealed the sections of the Financial Services and Markets Act relating to pensions guidance;
5. Additional guidance on the defining features of a payment account in the Perimeter Guidance Manual to reflect the Court of Justice of the European Union’s recent decision on the concept of a “payment account”;
6. Changes to the guidance notes accompanying the FCA’s capital adequacy regulatory reporting form to clarify the data being requested and make certain other clarificatory corrections; and
7. Brexit-related changes required to be made to the Handbook to deal with deficiencies found in the Handbook related to the U.K.’s upcoming exit from the EU, such as provisions that will become redundant when the U.K. leaves the EU.                  

• Responses to the consultation on items 2, 6 and 7 should be submitted by January 6, 2020. Responses to the consultation on all other items should be submitted by February 6, 2020.

View the FCA's consultation paper.

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