The Financial Conduct Authority is to focus on "proportionate regulation" under its new 5-year strategy, its chief operating officer told ABI conference delegates this week.

Emily Shepperd, told delegates at the ABI’s regulatory landscape event: “We know that what’s right for a 50,000-person firm is not always the same for a smaller business, which is why we worked with a broad range of stakeholders to get this strategy right.”

She said the FCA was focusing on supporting the growth of financial services firms, citing the simplification of rules and stripping “outdated” requirements.

The commitment holds out the hope of a lighter regime for financial advice firms which tend to be smaller than banks and large providers.

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She added: “You told us that data collections weigh heavily on your minds.  The impact of ad-hoc, complex and seemingly unnecessary data requests. So, we are actively reviewing and stopping data collections that we don’t need any more.”  

This is not the first time the regulator has hinted at moving towards more proportionate regulation, as it focuses on its mission to cut red tape and unnecessary admin.

Earlier this month in its latest proposal to scrap some regular returns, the FCA said it wanted to decommission REP022 as it thinks there are, “more proportionate ways of ensuring senior managers remain accountable for compliance with our pricing rules”.

It also expressed a desire for revised frameworks to be proportionate when it published plans to streamline rules on the types of funds investment firms must hold, in a step it claims could cut red tape by up to 70%.

The current regulatory capital rules were designed for banks, the FCA said. The FCA says this makes them complex and “not tailored to” investment firms’ business models.

Earlier this month Ms Shepperd announced that she would be leaving the FCA after four years. She has yet to announce her next move, but in the ABI speech shared that she would be remaining within the financial services industry.

The regulator has yet to name her replacement.