Regulatory Initiatives Grid

The Regulatory Initiatives Grid sets out the planned regulatory initiatives for the next 24 months.

This Grid from the Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum sets out the regulatory pipeline. We publish the Grid so the financial services industry and other stakeholders can understand – and plan for – the timing of the initiatives that may have a significant operational impact on them.

The Grid is available in 3 different formats to help users interact with the underlying data:

Regulatory Initiatives Grid (April 2025) (PDF)[1]

Regulatory Initiatives Grid - interactive dashboard[2]

Excel version (April 2025) (XLSX)[3]

Foreword by Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum co-Chairs

This is the 8^th edition of the Regulatory Initiatives Grid. We postponed the previous publication, due in May 2024, following the announcement of the General Election. Although the Forum published an interim update in October 2024, this edition reflects the significant reprioritisation that has taken place since the new Government came to power.

A key aim of the Grid is to enable the financial services industry and others to understand – and plan for – the initiatives that may have a significant impact on them.

The regulators that contribute to this Grid continue vital activity to support the safety, soundness and integrity of the UK financial services sector, protect consumers, drive innovation and competition, and support the UK’s international competitiveness and growth in the medium to long-term.

Regulators are focused on supporting the Government’s growth mission, and the reduction of unnecessary burden. Some of this will be achieved by reducing the quantity of new regulation, streamlining existing regulation where appropriate, and targeted reductions in regulatory reporting requirements. Doing so should enable a reduction in the cost of compliance.

This Grid shows regulators’ growth plans are forming and taking shape. We will continue to use it to update stakeholders on the progress of the policies set out in our individual growth letters to government and those covered in the Chancellor’s recent Regulation publication[4]. These steps will support growth, competitiveness, investment and innovation, while maintaining financial stability and consumer protection. For example, the potential removal of the £100 limit on contactless payments, the creation of a new platform for shares in private companies to help them access finance, the Digital Securities Sandbox, the PRA’s Matching Adjustment Investment Accelerator and further remuneration reforms for banks.

Regulators are already acting quickly. For example, the FCA removed the requirement for a Consumer Duty Board champion at the end of February 2025 without consulting.

The number of joint initiatives involving two or more regulators has steadily increased since the Grid was established in 2020, reflecting increased regulatory co-ordination. The Grid also enables more effective consideration of the cumulative effect of regulatory interventions.

We have included additional information where changes to our work programme could have a significant impact on firms’ planning. For example, in January 2025, the PRA (in consultation with HM Treasury) announced its decision to delay implementation of Basel 3.1 by 1 year to 1 January 2027 to allow greater clarity to emerge about plans for implementation in the United States. The PRA has set out the timetable for files impacted by the Basel 3.1 delay, particularly the delivery of Strong and Simple (see page 20 of pdf).

In deciding what policy initiatives to advance, members of the forum have also taken into account work that is already in train by government – to ensure that regulators are focused on the areas where they need to take initiatives forward because of gaps that need to be addressed. One example of this is that the PRA and FCA have recently confirmed they do not plan to publish final rules on diversity and inclusion data, in light of feedback received on the proposals and legislative developments. We will continue to consider the need for proposed initiatives in light of the drive to ensure that regulation is proportionate.

This Grid shows the increasing proportion of regulatory activities that are driven by the Government, including 19 initiatives that result from the repeal and replacement of assimilated law under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. These initiatives are largely designed to make regulation more proportionate, streamlined and tailored to the UK.

It also shows which initiatives we have already completed, even if not yet fully implemented. Examples include initiatives such as simplifying liquidity and disclosure requirements for Small Domestic Deposit Takers, as part of a strong and simple prudential framework for non-systemic banks and building societies, reforms arising from the Solvency ll Review, and the final rules for commercial Pensions Dashboards. This edition lists 90 completed/stopped initiatives, including 19 which have both started and finished since the last Grid was published.

Data remains a key area of focus. The FCA and PRA will develop proposals for the deletion of little-used or duplicative whole templates. The PRA will develop a firm-facing portal to provide the foundations to automate how we collect data for certain authorisations purposes, and the PRA and FCA will work together with industry to develop a coherent approach to regulatory reporting collections that can be maintained and evolve as risks emerge. The FCA has launched MyFCA, a portal to make it easier for firms to see all the information relating to their regulatory reporting responsibilities, making them easier to complete.

While it’s important that regulators in the Forum each retain operational independence and continue to decide their own flow and pace of work, we will continue to work together to retain the strength and integrity of the UK financial sector.

The Regulatory Initiative Forum

The Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum was launched to further strengthen coordination between members. The FCA and BoE/PRA co-chair the Forum which is made up of representatives from:

The Bank of England (BoE)
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT)
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR)
The Pensions Regulator (TPR)

On 11 March 2025 the Government announced its plan to consolidate the PSR and its functions mainly within the FCA. This is a practical step towards simplifying the regulation of payments and reflects the significant changes in the sector.

The transition and legislative process will take some time and follow consultation. However, the Government is clear that payment systems will continue to be effectively regulated, with a focus on making they are competitive, innovative and safe. The initiatives in the Grid reflect the PSR’s current work programme.

The Forum regularly reviews its membership. While there are no current plans to extend the members of the Forum, the Grid may include initiatives from a wider set of UK bodies based on their occasional participation in the Forum.

For example, the Grid may include initiatives involving the Insolvency Service, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero (DESNZ) or the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

The Forum’s terms of reference[5] will help users to understand the role of the Forum and the nature of this publication.

Scope of the Grid

The Grid is a consolidated presentation of the expected timeframes, as at the date of publication.

Initiatives included in the Grid are led by one or more Forum members. To be included in the Grid, initiatives must meet the agreed criteria:

Be public information – The Grid is not an announcement tool. Stakeholders are usually informed of initiatives featured on the Grid through Forum members’ regular channels of communication.
Have an operational impact – Forum members will include initiatives expected to have a significant operational impact during implementation. This means the Grid will feature initiatives believed to take up a substantial amount of firms’ time and resources during implementation.

The Grid does not include:

Initiatives led by international bodies except where Forum members are playing a key role in calibrating their implementation in the UK
Enforcement actions
Supervisory activities (since timing and operational impact are firm-specific)
Market sensitive information

The Grid is published periodically, usually twice a year. Each edition captures the regulatory landscape at a specific point in time. So, initiatives included in each edition may change, including decisions to modify or discontinue a particular initiative.

Editions will not be updated after publication to reflect the impacts of these decisions. Nor will they be updated to include initiatives that are announced later. Each member of the Forum will decide the best way to communicate changes.

How to understand the Regulatory Initiatives Grid

Structure

The Grid is organised by sections, often determined by sector.

The ‘Multi-sector’ section covers initiatives that span more than one sector. There are sector-specific sections which cover:

Banking, credit and lending
Payments and cryptoassets
Insurance and reinsurance
Investment management
Pensions and retirement income
Retail investments
Wholesale financial markets

Following stakeholder feedback, initiatives related to the repeal and replacement of assimilated law under FSMA 2023 have been included into their corresponding sector under a separate sub-heading.

The 2 largest sections (Multi-sector and Banking, Credit and Lending) are broken down into additional sub-categories, which group similar initiatives to make them more accessible for users.

Information provided in the Grid

The Grid contains the following information about regulatory initiatives:

Lead – which institution(s) is taking the initiative forward. Organisations are listed in alphabetical order for jointly-led initiatives.
Initiative – a high-level description of the initiative.
Expected key milestones – the specific timing of milestones, for example closing dates for consultation papers, if these are known.
Indicative impact on firms – this is shown as ‘higher’ (H), ‘lower’ (L) or ‘unknown’ (U) on a relative basis amongst initiatives.
Quarter-by-quarter – a breakdown of the next 3 quarters (April 2025 to December 2025), a column covering the following 6 months (January 2026 to June 2026) and a column for beyond that horizon.
Interest to consumers/consumer organisations – indicates where we expect an initiative is likely to be of interest to consumers and consumer organisations.
Change in timing – indicates that there has been a substantive change in timings for this initiative since the previously published edition of the Grid.
New initiative added to the Grid – indicates that this initiative was not included in the previous edition of the Grid.

The Grid also features an annex to highlight where initiatives included in the previous Grid have been removed (completed / stopped).

Providing feedback

We welcome feedback on the Grid. We are interested in how the Grid has been useful for stakeholders in planning for regulatory initiatives and where we can make improvements.

You can provide feedback by completing our online survey[6] or via email at [email protected].

The Forum Secretariat may share responses with Forum members. Please indicate in your response whether you agree or do not agree to sharing any personal data contained in your response, including name or email address, with Forum members. We will not regard a standard confidentiality statement in an email message as a request for nondisclosure. Despite this, we may be asked to disclose a confidential response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We may consult you if we receive such a request. Any decision we make not to disclose the response is reviewable by the Information Commissioner and the Information Rights Tribunal.

Previous editions of the Regulatory Initiatives Grid

Edition 1: May 2020[7] (PDF)
Edition 2: September 2020[8] (PDF)
Edition 3: May 2021[9] (PDF) and Edition 3: May 2021[10] (XLSX)
Edition 4: November 2021[11] (PDF) and Edition 4: November 2021[12] (XLSX)
Edition 5: May 2022[13] (PDF) and Edition 5: May 2022[14] (XLSX)
Edition 6: February 2023[15] (PDF) and Edition 6: February 2023[16] (XLSX)
July 2023 update[17] (PDF)
Edition 7: November 2023[18] (PDF) and Edition 7: November 2023[19] (XLSX)
Interim update - October 2024[20]

Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum meeting minutes

First published: 14/04/2025 Last updated: 14/04/2025