The FCA’s Director of Strategy, Christopher Woolard gave a speech this week as part of UK Fintech Week.

He focused on one key aspect – how can regulation foster innovation in financial services?

It is important for the regulator to foster innovation as it drives competition.

One of the FCA’s main challenges is to mitigate the risk financial innovation may bring, without putting up too many barriers which would prevent innovative services from entering the market. With that in mind the FCA created Project Innovate, designed to help support innovative firms and improve firm’s policy and processes.

This year the FCA is to focus on expanding Project Innovate to engage with firms on an international level in order to reduce barriers to UK-authorised firms looking to scale up overseas and for international innovators wanting to enter the UK market.

Christopher Woolard spoke about the regulatory sandbox, a space where innovative firms can test out products and services in a live, yet ‘safe’ environment.

A sandbox unit is due to be up and running this year. Another area of focus was Regtech, a term coined to describe firms which are using technology to find solutions to regulatory requirements. This is the start of some interesting developments to help to make the UK market thrive.

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