The Financial Conduct Authority will scrap portfolio letters and will instead publish “a small number” of market reports, in a drive to simplify its supervisory letter system.
The regulator says: “The market reports will include communications relevant to different types of firms and insights from our supervisory work.”
The new arrangement will take effect from the end of this month.
The watchdog adds it will make it easier for firms to find up-to-date supervisory communications on its website by retiring historical portfolio letters and Dear CEO letters.
It says: “We’ll clearly mark them as ‘historical’ and no longer current, with a few exceptions. Historical documents will remain publicly accessible at existing links.”
The regulator adds that until its market reports begin publication later this year, “firms should continue to refer to relevant portfolio letters and Dear CEO letters for guidance.
“We’ll continue to review our approach to other historical communications and consider how we can routinely review outdated material.”
It adds that Dear CEO Letters “will still be used to address senior people management about significant issues that require action”.
Regulators are under pressure from the government to cut business red tape and not hinder growth.
Last month, the FCA vowed to become a “smarter regulator”, improve its processes and embrace technology as part of its new five-year strategy.
