FCA Highlights Efforts To Promote Innovation In Financial Services

Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") Executive Director for Strategy and Competition Christopher Woolard highlighted FCA efforts to promote innovation in the financial services industry. In a speech before the Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, Mr. Woolard described some of the FCA's notable accomplishments in the five years since the launch of its Innovation Division. Citing a new report, Mr. Woolard stated that firms have benefited from the "regulatory certainty" provided through Sandbox testing (i.e., testing new tools or activities under regulatory oversight without full availability to the market). According to the report, of the 47 firms who completed Sandbox testing, 80 percent of them are now operating in the market. The Innovation Division is now attempting to expand its model to operate on a global scale through the Global Financial Innovation Network, which is a group of international regulators working to help firms test cross-border FinTech innovations.