A rule change from 1 September 2026 – To ensure consistency across the sector, the FCA has confirmed that non-banks will be caught by the FCA’s Code of Conduct Rules (COCON) from that date, bringing more instances of NFM into the FCA’s remit. In the FCA’s own words, “previously it has been unclear when [serious bullying and harassment] would amount to a conduct rules breach in a firm other than a bank.” This change was proposed in the FCA’s previous consultation paper CP23/20 and, as it was given what the FCA viewed to be “strong support”, it will go ahead without further consultation. The FCA has confirmed that this will bring an additional 37,000 regulated firms into scope but notes that firms without a Part 4A permission will remain out of scope – for example, payment and e-money firms, regulated investment exchanges and credit ratings agencies.
A consultation open until 10 September 2025 – The FCA is seeking views on proposed new handbook guidance on NFM (Handbook), with the aim of making it easier for Senior Management and Certification Regime (SMCR) firms to interpret and apply consistently the conduct rules; and to clarify statutory and FCA requirements for fitness and propriety. The consultation will close by 10 September 2025, with the intention that the final NFM guidance will be published by the end of this year. We will believe it when we see it.
The FCA has also confirmed it will not be going forward with two of its other previous proposals – in that it will not be providing guidance on the relevance of NFM and discriminatory practices to the threshold conditions in terms of the FCA’s assessment of an individual’s suitability to undertake regulated activities, nor will it be providing guidance to remind firms of the potential need to disclose NFM at work, or in private life in a regulatory reference as part of the Senior Management Arrangements, Systems and Controls (SYSC).
The probable answer here is that useful guidance would have to deal in specifics, not platitudes and generalities. “Discriminatory practices” and the private lives of bankers are vexed and complicated areas that you would only go into if you could see a clear way out, and neither offers that obvious way through. However, do note that the decision not to offer further guidance in relation to regulated references does not mean that the underlying rules and principles no longer apply – they very much still do.
Please do contact our specialists below if you would like to discuss these changes or indeed require any other support in relation to financial services.
Other Useful Resources
In order to support our financial services clients, we regularly produce useful materials. A selection of these can be found below:
