Regulatory Timeline

The FCA has opened consultation CP26/28 on a redesigned UK Alternative Investment Fund Managers regime. The proposals would replace the current approach with updated size thresholds, a new small/medium/large three-tier structure, and a new Alternative Investment Funds sourcebook (ALTS) to consolidate most AIFM rules. Responses to the main consultation are due by 14 October 2026, with most discussion-chapter responses due by 18 September 2026. The FCA says the currently envisaged implementation date for the new regime is 2028.

The FCA has announced three related consultations intended to simplify the UK asset management regime, including proportionate changes to Fund Reporting for Asset Management Entities (FRAME), modernisation of AIFMD-related rules, and replacement of overlapping remuneration codes for certain solo-regulated firms. The proposals are not yet final; consultation deadlines run from 16 September to 14 October 2026.

The FCA has opened consultation CP26/29 on a proposed proportionate conduct framework for UK captive insurers, alongside the PRA’s related prudential consultation. The consultation is open from 14 July 2026 to 14 October 2026. No final rules or implementation date have been published yet.

The FCA has opened CP26/25, an updated consultation on the Value for Money Framework for workplace pensions. Responses are due by 1 September 2026. The FCA says it intends, subject to consultation outcome, to introduce rules and guidance in 2027, with larger schemes completing VFM assessments from 2028 and all in-scope schemes rolled in from 2029.

The FCA has opened consultation CP26/26 on a proposed new Fund Reporting for Asset Management Entities (FRAME) regime. The proposal would replace current fund reporting requirements with consolidated forms, introduce more consistent fund data reporting, reduce some notification requirements, and apply proportionate reporting based on fund size and risk. Consultation responses are due by 22 September 2026; final rules are expected in a policy statement in the first half of 2027, with full implementation targeted for 2028.

The FCA-commissioned Yonder survey of 5,026 UK retail financial services consumers provides evidence for the Mills Review on the long-term impact of AI on retail financial services. It is not a rule change and does not create new FCA reporting or filing obligations, but it gives firms a clear supervisory signal on consumer expectations around AI: control, safeguards, human oversight, data protection, accountability and recourse are central to adoption and harm mitigation.

ESMA has announced a Common Supervisory Action with EU national competent authorities to review the risk management function of UCITS management companies and AIFMs during 2026 and 2027. The exercise will assess compliance with UCITS and AIFMD risk-management requirements, focusing on governance and organisation, risk identification/measurement/monitoring, and reporting to senior management and governing bodies. No new reporting template or legal rule is introduced by the announcement, but firms should expect coordinated supervisory information requests and file reviews.

The ECB has published its final supervisory guide setting out 13 expectations for how significant institutions should integrate climate-related and environmental risks into business strategy, governance, risk appetite, internal reporting, ICAAP, credit, operational, market and liquidity risk management, stress testing, and regulatory disclosures. The guide is non-binding but applies from publication and forms the basis for ECB supervisory dialogue, with Joint Supervisory Teams asking banks from early 2021 to identify divergences from the expectations and planned remediation.

The FCA has published an aggregate cost-benefit analysis covering final policy statements PS26/9 to PS26/13 for the UK cryptoasset regime. The analysis consolidates expected impacts across crypto admissions and disclosures, market abuse, stablecoin issuance, regulated cryptoasset activities, prudential requirements, and application of wider FCA Handbook standards. The new regime is expected to come into force on 25 October 2027, after which in-scope cryptoasset firms will need FCA authorisation and will need to comply with activity-specific, prudential, market abuse, disclosure, reporting and cross-cutting conduct requirements.

The FCA has issued an indicative Crypto Roadmap showing planned discussion papers, consultations, policy statements, gateway preparations and go-live sequencing for the UK cryptoasset regime. The roadmap is not itself a binding rule change, but it materially affects planning for cryptoasset businesses because it identifies forthcoming FCA work on stablecoins, custody, admissions and disclosures, market abuse, prudential requirements, complaints, conduct, governance, trading platforms, intermediation, lending, staking, resolution, groups and reporting.