FCA ‘Working Closely’ With Financial Services Sector on Covid-19

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority said it’s working closely with the financial services sector to ensure an effective response to the Covid-19 outbreak, according to a statement dated March 4.

The financial regulatoris working in conjunction with the Bank of England and HM Treasury. “We expect all firms to have contingency plans in place to deal with major events,” the authority said. Alongside the BOE, the FCA is “actively reviewing the contingency plans of a wide range of firms.”

“We expect firms to take all reasonable steps to meet their regulatory obligations,” the FCA said. “For example, we would expect firms to be able to enter orders and transactions promptly into the relevant systems, use recorded lines when trading and give staff access to the compliance support they need.”

The FCA said it will keep its guidance under review as necessary.

To contact the reporter on this story: Colin Keatinge in London at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Kesur at skesur@bloomberg.net, Tiago Ramos Alfaro

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