What happened?
The FCA’s five-year strategy, published in March 2025, is built around four aims: becoming a smarter and more efficient regulator, supporting growth and innovation, helping customers navigate their financial lives, and combating financial crime. Firms that seek to do the right thing can expect streamlined reporting, simplified authorisation and fewer data requests, with 36,000 firms already benefiting from lighter reporting obligations.
TCC groups its top ten priorities for 2026 into four themes: current themes, emerging opportunities, ongoing issues and areas to watch. The current themes include embedding and monitoring the Consumer Duty, technology, data and AI innovation, and the motor finance redress scheme, while targeted support is highlighted as an emerging opportunity.
On the Consumer Duty, the FCA’s multi-firm reviews are expected to focus on outcome monitoring, product design, customer journey mapping and the treatment of vulnerable customers, including a market-wide review of model portfolio services. On technology, firms are expected to ensure AI and data-driven tools are explainable, unbiased and properly overseen as the FCA itself becomes more data-led.
Why does it matter?
Reduced formal enforcement activity does not mean reduced scrutiny: the FCA is placing greater reliance on information requests as a supervisory tool and expects firms to evidence how they deliver good outcomes, fight financial crime and demonstrate effective governance, even as reporting burdens ease.
On motor finance, the FCA has paused handling certain complaints while the legal position on historical discretionary commission arrangements is clarified, but has made clear that operational readiness, data integrity and governance will be critical once an industry-wide redress scheme is introduced. On targeted support, firms will be able to apply for permissions from March 2026 ahead of the regime’s planned start on 6 April 2026, subject to legislation.
Who is affected?
These priorities affect firms across wealth management, pensions, banking, lending, payments, insurance and motor finance, particularly those with consumer credit or motor finance books, product providers considering targeted support, and any firm embedding AI or data-driven tools into customer-facing processes.
Key risks
- Consumer Duty: inconsistent monitoring of outcomes, fragmented product governance and poor identification of vulnerable customers.
- Technology and AI: data governance gaps and insufficiently explainable or overseen AI and data-driven tools.
- Motor finance redress: fragmented historical data, inconsistent documentation of commission arrangements and weak governance ahead of a redress scheme.
- Targeted support: firms new to the regime risk being unprepared for the permissions process opening from March 2026.
Actions to take
- Embed Consumer Duty principles into governance, culture and business model to create an auditable framework for monitoring outcomes.
- Review AI and data-driven tools for explainability, bias and vendor oversight ahead of increased FCA scrutiny.
- Retain and organise historical motor finance records and prepare complaints-handling capacity for a potential redress scheme.
- Consider whether to apply for FCA permissions to deliver targeted support ahead of the regime’s planned start in April 2026.
Wider implications
The FCA’s own account of its priorities extends beyond the four themes covered here to further areas the regulator is watching, including simplification of insurance rules, governance and non-financial misconduct, financial crime and market integrity, data privacy and cyber risk, ESG compliance and ongoing advice services. Together, the ten priorities point to a regulator that is easing some reporting burdens while sharpening its focus on evidenced outcomes.
Firms that treat 2026 planning as an opportunity to strengthen governance and evidencing, rather than simply reduce reporting effort, are likely to be better placed as supervisory data requests increase.
Recommendations
TCC and Recordsure combine advisory expertise with technology to help firms embed governance and operational frameworks for safe innovation, while Recordsure’s AI captures and analyses client interactions at scale to help monitor outcomes and evidence compliance.
On motor finance specifically, TCC Group works alongside its Momenta brand to help clients prepare, validate and execute redress plans efficiently and at pace.
Supporting sources
Frequently asked questions
What are the FCA's four strategic aims for 2025-2030?
Becoming a smarter, more efficient regulator; supporting growth and innovation; helping customers navigate their financial lives; and combating financial crime.
How many regulatory priorities does TCC identify for 2026?
Ten, grouped under current themes, emerging opportunities, ongoing issues and areas to watch.
When does the new targeted support regime take effect?
Firms can apply for permissions from March 2026, ahead of a planned start on 6 April 2026, subject to legislation.
Why has the FCA paused some motor finance complaints?
To clarify the regulatory and legal position on historical discretionary commission arrangements before an industry-wide redress scheme is introduced.
- FCA remuneration reform explained: what CP26/27 could mean for firmsAnalysis & Perspectives · September 2, 2026
- IBS Intelligence: Why financial services firms face growing AI governance scrutinyAnalysis & Perspectives · September 2, 2026
- FCA CP26/28: What the AIFM regime reforms mean for wealth managers and firmsRegulatory Horizon · September 2, 2026
- Will Value for Money assessments change how advisers compare pension providers?Regulatory Horizon · September 2, 2026
- BankingTCC helps retail banks, challenger banks, building societies and specialist banking providers strengthen governance, manage financial crime risk and demonstrate good customer outcomes. Our specialists support Consumer Duty, remediation, regulatory transformation, FCA intervention and compliance assurance programmes through advisory, managed services, specialist resourcing and technology-enabled compliance. With more than 25 years of experience supporting FCA-regulated firms, we help banks respond confidently to regulatory scrutiny while strengthening operational resilience and customer trust.
- General Insurance & ProtectionTCC helps insurers, brokers, MGAs and protection providers evidence fair value, strengthen customer outcomes and identify emerging customer harm. We assess product governance, claims performance, distribution oversight and vulnerability risks, helping firms create regulator-ready evidence, improve operational performance and demonstrate that products and services deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle.
- Lending & Consumer CreditTCC helps consumer credit firms evidence good outcomes, strengthen affordability and vulnerability frameworks, and manage complaints, remediation and regulatory risk. We support lenders with practical, regulator-ready compliance programmes that improve governance, customer treatment and operational resilience.
- Motor FinanceTCC helps motor finance lenders, brokers and providers assess redress exposure, prepare for large-scale customer reviews and strengthen complaints, affordability and Consumer Duty frameworks. We combine regulatory advisory, managed operations, specialist resource and technology-enabled assurance to deliver consistent customer outcomes, robust governance and regulator-ready evidence under heightened FCA scrutiny.