The FCA’s latest thematic review highlights major shortcomings in how UK firms assess financial-crime risk. Many Business-Wide Risk Assessments (BWRA) and Customer Risk Assessments (CRA) are still too generic, poorly evidenced, or disconnected from real-world controls. Key gaps identified include:  • Risk assessments not tailored to the firm’s actual products, customers or exposure.  • Weak links between BWRA findings and monitoring/testing.  • Senior management focusing heav

FCA Warns: Weak Risk Frameworks Won’t Cut It — Time for Smarter Oversight and AI-Driven Insight The FCA’s latest multi-firm review has highlighted major weaknesses in how regulated firms assess and manage risk. The regulator found that many firms: Still use underdeveloped risk frameworks that don’t reflect their size or complexity Fail to stress-test liquidity risks or model realistic scenarios Overlook group-level interdependencies, missing how parent companies or affiliates

Big news from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – they’re sharpening their fraud prevention toolkit. The regulator announced it will now have the power to cancel or amend a firm’s permission within 28 days if the firm fails to take appropriate action after a warning. Key highlights: Firms must now prove they are actively using the regulated activity they’re authorised for — or risk losing that permission. The move is aimed at tackling impersonation and cloning of authoris

FCA extends car finance compensation plan as lenders push back The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on an industry-wide compensation scheme for motor-finance customers who may have been mis-sold deals between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024. Key points: The issue centres on hidden or undisclosed commissions (including discretionary commission arrangements) that may have inflated costs for borrowers. Around 14.2 million agreements — roughly 44% of

AI Growth, Human Cuts: What Big Tech’s Job Losses Signal for Financial Services   Big tech is doubling down on AI—but not necessarily on people. IBM, despite beating expectations on revenue and profit, announced cuts to its global workforce as it pivots toward high-margin software and AI-driven growth.   Similarly, Salesforce and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) have cut hundreds of UK jobs even though their profits have soared—reflecting the collision between “AI obsession

Companies House Reform Update — 1 Million Verified Already Over one million people have already verified their identity ahead of the upcoming Companies House changes — a major milestone as the UK strengthens corporate transparency. From 18 November 2025, all new and existing company directors and persons with significant control (PSCs) must verify their identity with Companies House — either through GOV.UK One Login or an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). Why it

FCA Review: Consolidation in the Advice & Wealth-Management Sector The FCA has released its review into consolidation across the financial advice and wealth-management sector — and the message is clear: growth through acquisition is not inherently positive. The outcomes depend on how well firms manage governance, financial resilience and post-acquisition integration. The review highlights that consolidation can bring benefits — including scale and operational efficiency — whe

atchdog Services, we go beyond raw data. We provide Companies House information combined with a From 18 November 2025 , Companies House...

FCA permissions show sharp drop in consumer credit roles — Q2 2025 highlights Recent analysis of FCA permissions data reveals a notable...

FCA Authorisations Service Performance – Q1 2025/26 The latest FCA metrics show strong performance across most authorisation areas, with...

Companies House Mandatory identity verification Starting 18 November 2025, Companies House will roll out mandatory identity verification...

📢 Big Changes Coming to Companies House! From 18 November 2025, all UK company directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs)...

News from Companies House: Over 150,000 UK companies are being targeted for enforcement action in 2025–26 as part of a national crackdown...

The FCA has launched a new & improved Handbook website Published: 4 July 2025 (beta now live)   Full details: https://www.fca.org.uk/news...

A decade ago, Companies House made its full register freely accessible online. Today, it handles over 16.5 billion searches a year — a...