Yesterday at R3’s Corda Con, Chris Woolard a board member of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) gave an engaging speech for a regulator. The overall message was that the
FCA is open and flexible when it comes to many technologies. They’re upbeat about the potential for distributed ledger technology (DLT), but not at a hype level of enthusiasm. The emphasis is on balancing the risks and the need for senior executives to be accountable and hence understand what they’re managing.
The ultimate goal for the FCA is to protect consumers. To that end, the FCA regulates financial activities as opposed to individual technologies. Hence they are technology neutral. The motivation is simply that technology moves faster than regulation. But as technology evolves they need to ensure their rules remain relevant.
Accountability
Woolard commented: “We’re ten years on from the financial crisis where overly complex financial engineering played a significant role in making the impact so severe. We have to be alert to the risks that complexity can bring.”
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