The Financial Services and Markets Act gives us four statutory objectives:

  • market confidence: maintaining confidence in the financial system;
  • public awareness: promoting public understanding of the financial system;
  • consumer protection: securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and
  • the reduction of financial crime: reducing the extent to which it is possible for a business to be used for a purpose connected with financial crime.

These are supported by a set of principles of good regulation which we must have regard to when discharging our functions.


The objectives also:

  • provide political and public accountability. Our annual report contains an assessment of the extent to which we have met these objectives. Scrutiny of the FSA by Parliamentary Committees may focus on how we achieve our objectives;
  • govern the way we carry out our general functions e.g. rule-making, giving advice and guidance, and determining our general policy and principles. So, for example, we are under a duty to show how the draft rules we publish relate to our statutory objectives; and
  • assist in providing legal accountability. Where we interpret the objectives wrongly, or fail to consider them, we can be challenged in the courts by judicial review.