2026 UK Financial Services Update

Introduction

Are you ready for the regulatory shifts set to reshape UK financial services in 2026?

This bitesize webinar brings together the most important developments that you need to be aware of. From the UK government's launch of a Scale-up Unit to support innovative financial firms to the proposed changes to simplify Assessment of Value (AoV) reporting, you will gain clear and practical insight on what could affect your operations for 2026 from an industry expert with nearly 30 years of international experience in financial services.

This financial services update webinar is essential for professionals across the accounting, finance, legal, banking, insurance, corporate, and investment sectors who are directly or indirectly involved in structuring, executing, or advising on financial services transactions.

What You Will Learn

This short webinar will cover the following:

• UK Government: Launched a Scale-up Unit in Leeds to help high-potential financial services firms and FinTechs grow faster
• FCA Payments Strategy: Outlined a new strategy to strengthen the UK's retail payments infrastructure, focusing on resilience, security, and fraud prevention
• FCA Client Categorization: Proposed updating client categorization rules to provide more clarity on when investors can be opted up to professional client status
• FCA Safeguarding Regime: Will apply a new safeguarding regime to e-money issuers from May 2026, aligning them more closely with investment firms to increase consumer protection
• FCA Reporting: Proposed simplifying the Assessment of Value (AoV) reporting requirements for funds to reduce the burden on firms. Also proposed transaction reporting changes that could save firms £100m a year
• FSCS Levy Forecast: Released an early forecast for the 2026/27 Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) levy, which is projected to decrease slightly to £342m
• FSB Chair's Letter: The Chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) noted the ‘challenging economic outlook’ in a letter to G20 leaders
• AI and Automation: The growing use of AI is prompting financial institutions to reassess the skills needed for their workforce
• Gig Economy: Trends like the gig economy are changing the way work is done within financial services

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Wednesday 25th March 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,100+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.