The FCA has set out its regulatory priorities for 2025 — focusing on growth, smarter regulation, consumer protection and tackling financial crime. We break down Lucy Castledine’s latest speech and what these themes mean for firms preparing for the year ahead.
On 25 September 2025, the FCA Director of Consumer Investments, Lucy Castledine, delivered a speech at the PIMFA Compliance Conference, outlining the regulator’s strategic priorities for the year ahead.
Her address set out the FCA’s four key focus areas for 2025, underpinned by a broader call for collaboration between the regulator and industry to raise standards together:
- Supporting growth
- Becoming a smarter regulator
- Helping consumers
- Fighting financial crime
Below, we explore the FCA’s 2025 priorities, what they mean for firms, and the practical actions to consider in response.
1. Supporting Growth
Growth remains a central focus of the FCA’s five-year strategy. Lucy Castledine described the regulator as a “champion of the growth agenda”, aiming to balance innovation with consumer protection. This includes engaging more directly with the industry and adopting a less “one-size-fits-all” approach to supervision.
Targeted support and simplified advice
Lucy Castledine highlighted that only 9% of consumers currently take regulated advice, leaving millions without appropriate financial guidance. To address this, the FCA is advancing proposals on targeted support and simplified advice designed to make financial help more accessible to consumers who cannot afford bespoke advisory services.
The FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will coordinate closely under a new Memorandum of Understanding to ensure consistency in complaint handling and rule interpretation.
The regulator has issued a second consultation on Targeted Support (closing on 16 October 2025); opened a pre-application support service to assist firms preparing to provide this activity; and confirmed that Targeted Support will operate under a tailored conduct regime, separate from full-scope advice.
Lucy Castledine described this as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reshape how consumers engage with financial advice and build confidence in investing for the future.
2. Becoming a Smarter Regulator
The FCA is aiming to reduce the regulatory burden, remove duplication, and improve efficiency by leveraging technology and data. This includes initiatives to streamline reporting requirements and use data more intelligently to drive supervision. Through its Data Decommissioning Programme, the regulator has removed or reduced the frequency of several returns, including sections of the Retail Mediation Activities Return (RMAR).
In total, these changes will result in around 20,000 fewer submissions, benefiting approximately 16,000 firms. Further reforms are expected later in 2025. The FCA’s objective is to free up firm resources that can be redirected toward delivering good consumer outcomes.
Castledine also referenced the 2025 adviser survey, which found that 92% of advice firms serve vulnerable clients and more than half adjust their services accordingly, which is a positive sign that Consumer Duty principles are embedding across the sector.
3. Helping Consumers
Two years after implementation, the Consumer Duty remains at the heart of the FCA’s strategy for raising standards. The speech highlighted measurable progress in key areas such as a significant reduction in unsuitable advice and mis-selling complaints, which have fallen from 39% in 2022 to 26% in 2024, as well as an elimination of harmful practices such as “double dipping” on client cash balances, saving consumers an estimated £10 million annually, alongside clearer and fairer pricing structures across investment and advice propositions.
Focus areas for 2025/2026
Supervisory work will concentrate on outcomes monitoring and fair-value assessments, testing consumer understanding across product chains and fair value and pricing reviews.
The regulator will continue thematic reviews in higher-risk areas such as trading apps, complex ETPs and retirement income advice. The regulator’s clear message to firms is to ensure good outcomes become “second nature” within their operations.
4. Fighting Financial Crime
The FCA reaffirmed that tackling financial crime remains a core priority. The regulator continues to pursue unauthorised 'finfluencers' promoting financial products online, having led an international week of action in 2025 and brought multiple prosecutions in 2024. Lucy Castledine warned that such behaviour undermines both consumer protection and market integrity.
Lucy Castledine urged social media platforms to strengthen their controls, citing weaknesses such as ‘phoenixing’ accounts and deep-fake scams of authorised firms.
While the FCA will continue to act against offenders, it emphasised that platforms themselves must take greater responsibility for removing illegal content at source. Firms are encouraged to notify the FCA if they see illegal content online or encounter challenges when reporting such material to tech providers.
What does this mean for firms?
The FCA’s 2025 agenda shows a regulator seeking to be smarter, more collaborative and technology-driven, but also one that expects firms to demonstrate equal commitment to proportionate governance and robust risk management.
Firms should now look to focus on:
- Preparing for targeted support and simplified advice by assessing how existing advice and guidance processes align with forthcoming conduct requirements.
- Reviewing data and reporting controls to align with the FCA’s smarter supervision goals.
- Embedding Consumer Duty outcomes within governance, MI, and product oversight frameworks.
- Enhancing financial crime controls around digital marketing, online engagement, and influencer partnerships.
How Thistle Initiatives Can Help
At Thistle Initiatives, we support firms across the financial services sector in anticipating and adapting to regulatory change. Our team helps clients strengthen governance, enhance data frameworks and embed Consumer Duty principles in line with FCA expectations.
Whether you are reviewing your advice processes for Targeted Support, upgrading systems for smarter reporting, or reinforcing financial crime controls, we can provide practical and proportionate support tailored to your business.
If you’d like to discuss how we can support your firm considering the new action plan, get in touch at info@thistleinitiatives.co.uk or call 020 7436 0630 to speak with our team.
Meet the Expert
Anisha Kalam, Senior Consultant 
Anisha is a compliance specialist with over six years of experience in financial services, specialising in FCA regulations and OFSI sanctions. She has successfully implemented global compliance programs, introduced cost-saving monitoring systems, and ensured adherence to regulatory requirements.
Anisha's expertise spans sanctions analysis, regulatory risk mitigation, policy drafting, and compliance audits. With a proven track record in reducing compliance risks and managing high-stakes regulatory projects, she brings technical precision and leadership to every role.