Regulation in Motion: Inside COMPLY’s 2025 UK Regulatory Rundown & the FCA’s Big Reboot

Key Takeaways

• A Smarter FCA: The UK’s financial watchdog is shifting from box-checking to outcome-driven supervision, promising a more digital, flexible, and globally connected regulatory model.
• New Rules, Old Problems: Despite efforts to streamline, firms still face overlapping frameworks, regulatory blind spots, and mounting pressure to make compliance more strategic.
• Big Impact Ahead: High-stakes proposals, on misconduct, resilience, and capital, will reshape expectations across investment firms, portfolio managers, and dual-regulated entities.
• Smarter Compliance, Not Easier: The compliance burden isn’t lifting, it’s just being reframed. Tech-savvy, business-integrated teams will thrive, but manual, siloed ones, not so much.
• Prepare Now or Play Catch-Up: The FCA’s direction is clear. Firms that embed compliance into strategy today will be far better prepared for the shifting tides tomorrow.

Deep Dive

There’s little doubt that regulation in the UK is picking up pace, and compliance professionals aren’t just being asked to keep up. They’re being asked to lead. COMPLY’s 2025 UK Regulatory Rundown, released this July, does what many frazzled in-house teams wish they had time to do: it maps the FCA’s recent and upcoming rules across two whirlwind years of consultation papers, policy statements, and strategic pivots. And it doesn’t just summarize what’s changed. It breaks down why it matters, including who’s affected, what’s required, and where firms need to focus now.

So what’s the headline? The FCA isn’t just updating the rulebook, it’s rewriting the playbook.

If the FCA’s five-year strategy (2025–2030) reads like a manifesto for modernization, that’s because it is. The agency is reimagining itself as a more nimble, tech-savvy, results-oriented body, one that isn’t just following the rules but shaping them with global competitiveness in mind. Its 2025/26 work program goes a step further, spelling out how this vision will come to life.

Expect more automation, faster authorizations, a more meaningful presence in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific, and perhaps most importantly, a renewed focus on outcomes over processes.

Michael Rasmussen, CEO of GRC 20/20 and our own GRC Report, puts it best, “The future of compliance in the UK isn’t lighter; it’s smarter. And that demands leadership, not just checklists.”

From MiFID to Misconduct: The Rules That Matter Most

COMPLY’s Rundown scores every rule and proposal on a 1–5 scale of impact. Some changes offer relief. Others demand serious restructuring. Here's where the pressure is building:

• Non-Financial Misconduct Goes Regulated (CP25/18): The FCA is extending its Code of Conduct to cover serious workplace misconduct. That means bullying, harassment, and toxic culture are no longer just HR issues, they’re regulatory ones. Compliance will need to work arm-in-arm with legal and HR to monitor, report, and respond.
  Impact Level: 4
• Operational Resilience Meets Its Next Test (CP24/28): The rules around reporting third-party failures and IT incidents are getting sharper. For many, this aligns with existing DORA prep. For others, it’s a major gap to close and fast.
  Impact Level: 4
• Redefining Regulatory Capital (CP25/10): MIFIDPRU investment firms get clearer, simpler rules on what counts as capital, but they’ll need to rework internal policies and reporting flows to match the leaner rulebook.
  Impact Level: 4
• SMCR Tweaks (CP25/21): Simplification is on the way: streamlined certification, more flexibility for internal moves, and less duplication. But don’t mistake this for a compliance holiday, conduct standards are still non-negotiable.
  Impact Level: 2
• SDR Pause for Portfolio Managers (CP24/8): Originally slated to extend sustainability labels to portfolio managers by December 2024, the FCA hit pause to reflect on implementation challenges. Still, the anti-greenwashing rule is in force.
  Impact Level: 4

Beyond the Headlines: Other Rules Worth Watching

Not all consultations made a splash, but they’re still reshaping the regulatory terrain:

• Client Disclosure Overhaul (CP25/9): Simplifies investment product info, giving firms more flexibility—but more responsibility to tailor disclosures for better outcomes.
• MiFID Org Reg Repeal (CP24/24): Housekeeping, but with real implications for firms whose docs and systems reference now-defunct rules.
• Investment Research Payment Reform (PS25/4): Fund managers can now bundle research and execution costs, a move to keep pace with the U.S.
• Margining Reform (CP25/5): Lays groundwork for a UK-specific post-Brexit EMIR margining regime.
• Public Offer Platforms (CP25/3): A nod to fintech and growth, creating a new regime for non-public capital raising above £5 million.

Matthew Raver of RQC Group captures the paradox, “Where rules are relaxed or withdrawn, firms may find themselves navigating regulatory expectations with less clarity.”

This theme runs through the Rundown. In some areas, the FCA is actively pulling back, like removing old data reporting requirements (CP25/8) and tweaking MiFID client categorization rules. But in others, it’s layering on new expectations that require tighter integration of systems, smarter tooling, and closer alignment between functions.

What Firms Should Do Now

This isn’t a “read the rule, check the box” era. It’s a time to ask deeper questions:

• Are your compliance systems agile enough to respond in real time?
• Can your teams interpret regulatory intent and embed it across business operations?
• Are you still relying on siloed spreadsheets or orchestrating compliance like a strategic function?

The Rundown makes it clear that firms that modernize now, and invest in tooling, clarity, and cross-functional collaboration, will not only meet their obligations. They’ll lead the pack. Because this regulatory cycle isn’t just a phase, it’s the new normal.

Regulation in the UK is being reshaped, strategically, structurally, and philosophically. And while the FCA’s reforms promise more proportionality, less red tape, and greater efficiency, they also demand more foresight, coordination, and resilience.

COMPLY’s 2025 UK Regulatory Rundown is more than a summary. It’s a signal to the industry that change isn’t coming. It’s already here.

And whether you’re a global investment firm or a nimble fund manager, the same rule applies, those who prepare early, win later.

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