The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is to set aside £30 million (€34.4 million) this year to prepare for the country’s withdrawal from the European Union in March 2019.
In its business plan for 2018/19, published on Monday, the financial regulator also warned that Brexit-related preparations will dominate its workload over the next 12 months – which it said would be a “particularly challenging year”.
Of the £30 million, £14 million will come from “reprioritising, delaying or reducing non-critical activity”.
FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey said: “We recognise that this year we need to dedicate a significant amount of resource to withdrawal from the EU.
“As a result, setting our priorities this year has involved a particularly rigorous level of scrutiny and challenge to focus on areas where we see the greatest potential for harm.”
Aside from Brexit preparations, the FCA said it would also focus on improving corporate culture and governance and tackle high-cost credit and financial crime in the year ahead.
Simon Turner, partner in EY’s financial services regulation practice, said that navigating the complexities of UK’s withdrawal from the EU would eat up significant resources for the regulator in the year ahead and would “likely mean a reduction in the volume of new regulation”.
©2018 funds europe
