Helping firms navigate regulatory compliance complexity with confidence
Regulation touches every part of a Financial Services business.
It influences strategy, business model, corporate governance, oversight and assurance, systems and controls, conduct, and financial resilience.
When done well, compliance drives good customer outcomes while strengthening the business. It enables safe, sustainable growth and helps create, protect and realise value.
Getting compliance right, however, is rarely straightforward.
Regulation continues to evolve, supervisory approaches and regulatory expectations change, and firms must respond while operating in an increasingly dynamic and competitive market.
Poor regulatory decisions can result in inefficient or ineffective processes and controls that add cost, create friction and deliver little perceived value to key stakeholders.
Over time, this can undermine engagement, constrain growth and lead to poorer outcomes for firms, customers and regulators alike.
Our Regulatory Compliance Practice helps firms navigate this complexity.
We help clients understand what regulation means in practice, identify the issues that matter most to regulators, make informed decisions about how to respond, and translate those decisions into proportionate, effective and commercially workable solutions.
Whether establishing a regulated business, scaling or transforming an existing operation, addressing a regulatory challenge or preparing for a transaction, we help clients make better regulatory decisions, manage risk with confidence, and create and protect value throughout the business lifecycle.
What are regulators concerned about?
Our analysis of relevant regulatory publications supplemented by our conversations with regulators and businesses subject to information requests, thematic reviews or direct intervention suggests that the following are key areas of focus.
Market wide
Sector Focus
Explore tabs below to learn more about sector-specific regulatory challenges and developments.
Insurers
Insurance brokers
Consumer credit
Mortgage lenders
Wealth management
Asset management
Payments & e-money
Consumer understanding & digital journeys
Do customers genuinely understand charges, payment journeys and key risks, or are disclosures technically compliant but difficult to understand?¹
Fair value of payment services
Can firms demonstrate that fees, FX margins and charges represent fair value beyond simply being competitively priced?¹
Fraud, APP scams & customer protection
Are fraud controls, reimbursement processes and customer support keeping pace with evolving APP fraud and financial crime risks?¹
Vulnerable customers & financial inclusion
Are vulnerable customers identified early enough and provided with support that reflects their needs and circumstances?²
Safeguarding & customer money
Are safeguarding arrangements, governance and reconciliations sufficiently robust to protect customer funds?¹
Agents, distributors & embedded finance oversight
Where firms rely on agents, distributors or embedded-finance partners, is oversight proportionate to the conduct and regulatory risks involved?
Home & travel (and beyond) claims
Are claims handled promptly and fairly, with clear communications and appropriate oversight of outsourced or delegated claims?
Product value (premium finance, ancillary/add-ons & pure protect)
Can the firm present a clear, compelling argument that the costs of their products represent fair value vis a vis the benefits received (and if it can’t for the product in question, can it do so for other products)?
Customer journey friction
Has the firm deliberately designed customer journeys to remove unnecessary barriers while retaining appropriate friction where it helps customers make better decisions?
Delegated arrangements
Is the level of third-party oversight reflective of the extent of the reliance that the firm places on the third party to fulfill its regulatory obligations and deliver good outcomes to its customers.
Access & innovation
Can products reach customers who need cover while product design, pricing and innovation continues to protect them from foreseeable harms?
Do sales deliver customer understanding
Do customers genuinely understand the cover, material exclusions and limitations, rather than simply receiving technically compliant disclosures?
Product value (premium finance, ancillary/add-ons & pure protect)
Do firms understand the differences between their role as co-manufacturer or distributor for different products, and what this means for their approach to product governance and fair value assessments?
Distribution chain outcomes
Does the broker receive enough information to understand what happens to customers after placement, and to what extent does this impact their ability to complete fair value assessments and demonstrate that they are delivering good outcomes?
Remuneration & incentives
Could commissions or other commercial incentives distort product selection, distribution or value?
Delegated arrangements
Where the broker relies on ARs or delegated providers, is oversight sufficiently robust for the activity and customer risk involved?
Offers and cost of credit
Do promotional offers and digital journeys make the conditions, true cost and consequences of borrowing sufficiently clear?
Product value (high cost, credit cards and running account credit)
Can firms demonstrate that higher cost or running account credit delivers fair value across different customer types or different patterns of usage, rather than simply demonstrating that the headline price is competitive?
Access vs affordability
Are credit models responsibly widening access without lending to customers who cannot sustainably afford the product?
Financial difficulty
Are customers struggling with debt receiving timely and accessible support, appropriate forbearance and, where debt solutions are recommended, advice that is suitable and affordable for their individual circumstances?
Vulnerability support
Are firms identifying vulnerable customers early enough and adapting lending, collections and support to reflect their needs.
Data driven decisions
Is use of open-banking, bureau or alternative data governed and tested so that automated decisions remain fair and explainable?
Advice quality & suitability
Can firms evidence that advice reflects customers’ needs and circumstances and produces appropriate outcomes, rather than simply demonstrating a compliant process?
Access, flexibility & responsible lending
Are firms making appropriate use of greater regulatory flexibility to serve creditworthy customers who fall outside traditional lending models, while maintaining reasonable affordability assessments?
Later-life & interest-only lending
Are affordability, repayment strategies and customer understanding robust where borrowing extends into later life or capital repayment is deferred?
Financial difficulty
Are borrowers in financial difficulty identified early, able to access support without unnecessary barriers, and offered appropriate and sustainable forbearance that reflects their individual circumstances?
Second charges & debt consolidation
Are firms assessing whether debt consolidation is genuinely suitable for the customer, and whether it is being used as intended?
Incentives & conditional selling
Do commercial arrangements between estate agents and mortgage intermediaries create inappropriate incentives or restrict customer choice?
Ongoing fees vs service
Are clients paying ongoing advice or discretionary management charges receiving the service promised, and can the firm evidence its value?
Suitability & advice quality
Do recommendations reflect the client’s objectives, risk, capacity for loss and circumstances, rather than merely satisfying process requirements?
Model portfolios
Are governance, value, communications and outcomes sufficiently understood where clients are placed into standardised portfolio solutions?
Client vulnerability
Are firms identifying vulnerability consistently, keeping it under review as clients’ circumstances change and adapting their service where additional support is needed?
Financial crime & source of wealth
Do KYC, source-of-wealth, sanctions and ongoing monitoring arrangements reflect the actual financial-crime risks presented by the firm’s clients?
Growth & consolidation
Are governance, controls and client servicing keeping pace as firms acquire businesses, sell or buy/integrate client books and grow?
Consumer understanding & digital journeys
Do customers genuinely understand charges, payment journeys and key risks, or are disclosures technically compliant but difficult to understand?
Fair value of payment services
Can firms demonstrate that fees, FX margins and charges represent fair value beyond simply being competitively priced?¹
Fraud, APP scams & customer protection
Are fraud controls, reimbursement processes and customer support keeping pace with evolving APP fraud and financial crime risks?¹
Vulnerable customers & financial inclusion
Are vulnerable customers identified early enough and provided with support that reflects their needs and circumstances?²
Safeguarding & customer money
Are safeguarding arrangements, governance and reconciliations sufficiently robust to protect customer funds?¹
Agents, distributors & embedded finance oversight
Where firms rely on agents, distributors or embedded-finance partners, is oversight proportionate to the conduct and regulatory risks involved?
Private markets / private credit
Are valuation, conflicts, concentration, leverage and liquidity risks governed appropriately as private markets grow and retail access develops?
Legacy product value
Can firms evidence fair value in older unit-linked pensions and savings where layered charges or legacy product design may disadvantage customers?
Investor categorisation & high-risk investments
Are investor classifications and assessments robust enough to ensure higher-risk investments are reaching customers for whom they are appropriate?
Technology & sustainability
Are AI, tokenisation and sustainability claims supported by clear accountability, controls and evidence?
Third-party & outsourcing oversight
Are oversight arrangements proportionate to the reliance placed on administrators, custodians, technology providers and other outsourced services?
Our regulatory compliance services
Select a tab below for more information on our regulatory compliance advisory services.
FCA Authorisations & variations of permission
Regulatory change & consumer duty support
Regulatory gap analysis and compliance assurance reviews
S166 skilled person reviews and support
Compliance Framework Design and Enhancement
Past business reviews, remediation and redress
Integrated internal audit, transactions and restructuring
Specialist regulatory advice
Providing clear, commercial advice on complex and business-critical regulatory challenges.
- What we do: Ad-hoc, high-level guidance for highly complex, business-critical regulatory hurdles.
- How we help: Providing clear compliance advice on strategic initiatives, including corporate ringfencing, cross-border outsourcing, operating model updates, or launching innovative distribution channels.
Helping firms obtain FCA authorisation and expand their regulatory permissions with confidence.
- What we do: Strategic planning and execution for entering regulated markets or expanding your current regulatory scope.
- How we help: We evaluate your regulatory readiness, build the necessary framework and documentation, draft your application, and manage direct engagement with the UK regulators.
Translating regulatory change into practical actions that support compliance and business growth.
- What we do: Interpreting new regulatory developments and successfully integrating them into your day-to-day business operations.
- How we help: We decode shifting frameworks, such as Consumer Duty, SMCR reforms, and targeted support regimes, translating policy into practical corporate actions and sustainable change programmes.
Identifying compliance gaps and strengthening governance before issues become regulatory risks.
- What we do: Independent health checks to catch and resolve compliance issues before they escalate into commercial or supervisory risks.
- How we help: We perform targeted or end-to-end gap analyses across the entire product and customer lifecycle (from design, to pricing, to sales, servicing and complaints) and across the supporting governance, oversight and control frameworks. As the FCA moves toward a proportionate, outcomes-based approach, we ensure your governance and compliance frameworks predict, prevent, and remediate systemic flaws.
Supporting firms through Section 166 reviews, regulatory scrutiny and remediation programmes.
- What we do: Expert mitigation and management of Section 166 (s166) reviews to protect your business.
- How we help: Led by Partners with extensive history acting as Skilled Persons, we offer two distinct pathways:
- Firm-Appointed s166 Execution: Delivering independent, robust reports directly for the firm.
- Firm-Side Support: Preparing your team via readiness assessments, managing FCA/PRA information requests, conducting mock interviews, and structuring remediation programmes. We specialise across product governance, CASS, insurance sales, insurance claims, affordability, collections, complaints, and redress schemes and the supporting corporate governance, risk management and compliance frameworks.
Designing proportionate compliance frameworks that protect businesses while enabling growth.
- What we do: Transforming identified compliance weaknesses into robust, future-proof operational frameworks.
- How we help: From simple policy or procedural refreshes to comprehensive architectural rebuilds of your product governance, customer interfaces and risk management, compliance and outcome-testing functions. Every solution is scaled precisely to your firm’s size and complexity.
Managing remediation and redress programmes that resolve issues and rebuild stakeholder confidence.
- What we do: Rapid containment, assessment, and resolution when operational or regulatory elements fail.
- How we help: We design, execute, and provide independent oversight for past business reviews and redress schemes. We define affected populations, formulate customer assessment methodologies, and deploy efficient contact strategies to minimize harm and protect corporate reputation.
Bringing regulatory expertise to transactions, restructuring projects and internal audit reviews.
- What we do: Infusing specialist regulatory compliance oversight into broader corporate transactions, stress scenarios, and internal audits.
- How we help: Working alongside PKF Littlejohn’s wider Financial Services practice, we deliver technical regulatory due diligence (on firms or books of business) and restructuring support. This grants investors, lenders, and boards clear visibility over regulatory risk.
Why choose PKF for regulatory advisory?
There is no one-size-fits-all model in financial regulation. Our regulatory specialists bring deep experience of the issues you face, but start by understanding your commercial objectives, business model, size and scale, and the markets in which you operate. Our advice is tailored to what you do, the outcomes you need to achieve and the risks you need to manage, rather than imposing off-the-shelf solutions or unnecessarily complex frameworks.
And because regulatory issues rarely exist in isolation, our regulatory specialists can draw on PKF’s wider expertise across audit, governance, risk, transactional services, and restructuring. This allows us to bring together the right expertise for the issue at hand, while keeping our advice practical, proportionate and commercially grounded.
Regulatory compliance FAQs
Regulatory compliance involves ensuring that financial services firms operate in accordance with FCA, PRA and other applicable regulatory requirements (which as referenced above, leaves no part of a business untouched and impacts a firm’s strategy, business model, corporate governance, oversight and assurance, organisational systems and controls, conduct and financial soundness). Effective compliance help businesses become safer and more sustainable by managing their risks, ensuring that their customers receive good outcomes and protecting their brand and reputation, whilst demonstrating a good governance framework and corporate culture.
