The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has concluded its six-week policy sprint, which aimed to support new ways to help consumers make important investment decisions as part of the regulator's work on targeted support.

It comes after the FCA found that just 9 per cent of UK consumers took regulated financial advice in the past year.

At a showcase on 8 April, FCA-authorised firms, including retail banks, platform providers and wealth managers, presented customer journeys they developed to help and support people to consider cash to investment decisions.

This included models that were tested and refined using real customers in real time.

The FCA said that the work "provides a unique opportunity to reset the rules to create a new form of help" for customers who face decisions about their finances.

This is the first policy sprint that the regulator has run in this way, testing a future rule set before formal consultation involving industry, consumer groups and other regulators, such as the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The aim of the sprint is to help accelerate the final policy proposals that will be put out for consultation by the end of June 2025.

FCA executive director for consumers, competition and international, Sarah Pritchard, said: "We want to see a consumer investment market where people can invest with confidence, understanding the risks and opportunities available to them.

"The sprint is an important step to achieving that goal, helping firms explore ways to support consumers and helping the FCA to refine the proposed policy framework before consultation. We look forward to seeing more innovative solutions emerge.

"We encourage firms and consumer groups to keep engaging with us, and for firms who are interested to use our sandboxes to start testing their innovative solutions now."

This article originally appeared on our sister title, Wealth Investment News.

---