By Steve Conley, Founder – Academy of Life Planning & Global Ambassador – Transparency Task Force
The Announcement
On 24 October 2025, the Chancellor unveiled a new “Scale-Up Unit” within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
Its purpose: to “supercharge growth” across the UK’s financial sector by giving fast-growing banks and insurers bespoke regulatory support.
At first glance, it sounds like progress — a boost for innovation, jobs, and competitiveness.
But beneath the rhetoric lies a deeper policy pivot: regulation is being repurposed from a shield for consumers to a springboard for capital.
A Quiet Policy Revolution
The Scale-Up Unit sits at the intersection of two competing philosophies of finance.
Historically, the FCA and PRA have operated under three statutory aims:
- Protect consumers
- Maintain market integrity
- Promote effective competition
The new initiative subtly rearranges that hierarchy. Growth, speed, and investment are now central. Prudence, conduct, and fairness move to the periphery.
In essence, the watchdogs are being retrained to wag their tails for the market.
Loosening the Guardrails
The unit promises to “reduce friction” for firms scaling rapidly — particularly deposit-takers and insurers. In regulatory language, that usually means:
- Shorter approval times
- Lighter-touch supervision
- More flexibility in capital and conduct rules
These measures make life easier for large institutions but harder for consumers.
Every time the guardrails loosen, risk accelerates faster than oversight.
The Chancellor’s framing is revealing: “We’re cutting through red tape to let growth flourish.” Yet red tape, in the context of finance, often exists to protect people’s livelihoods from the consequences of unchecked ambition.
The Capital Narrative
The Treasury cites over £110 billion in new investment commitments from global firms as validation of the policy. But these inflows are not community investments — they’re speculative bets on future yield.
Growth, in this sense, doesn’t mean empowerment; it means expansion of corporate reach and concentration of wealth.
This is the same story we’ve seen before:
Deregulate → Inflate valuations → Extract profits → Socialise losses.
We witnessed it in 2008, in the pensions mis-selling era, and in every cycle where capital “innovates” faster than conscience catches up.
Consequences for Consumers
When regulation becomes promotion:
- Consumers lose protection. Faster approvals and laxer supervision widen the gap between corporate advantage and public interest.
- Complaints channels falter. The Financial Ombudsman Service, already overburdened and introducing complaint fees, cannot keep pace.
- Trust erodes. Each scandal that follows a wave of deregulation corrodes the public’s belief that finance can ever truly serve society.
This new phase of financial policy doesn’t “empower” — it accelerates extraction under the banner of innovation.
A Fork in the Road
The launch of the Scale-Up Unit represents a choice about the kind of economy we want:
- One that grows bigger — or one that grows fairer.
- One that prioritises capital expansion — or human well-being.
At the Academy of Life Planning, we see this as a defining moment.
While regulators help institutions “scale up,” we help individuals wise up — reclaiming autonomy, transparency, and purpose.
The Counter-Movement: Structural Trust
If the government’s new priority is to promote growth, then the public’s new priority must be to restore structural trust — the foundation of every just financial system.
That means:
- Designing financial lives from the inside out, not the outside in.
- Planning life before money — ensuring that wealth serves purpose, not power.
- Measuring success by the flourishing of people, not the speed of capital.
“The real scale-up we need is not of capital — it’s of consciousness.”
Conclusion
The FCA–PRA Scale-Up Unit may supercharge financial firms, but it risks short-circuiting public trust.
True innovation isn’t about cutting regulatory corners; it’s about reconnecting finance with its moral purpose — serving life.
The choice is ours:
- Accelerate the age of exploitation,
or - Awaken the age of empowerment.
At the Academy of Life Planning, we know where we stand.
About the Author
Steve Conley is the Founder of the Academy of Life Planning and Global Ambassador at the Transparency Task Force. A former head of investment propositions at HSBC and Santander, Steve leads a global movement of holistic wealth planners committed to restoring trust, transparency, and integrity to financial services.
http://www.aolp.co.uk
🔹 Primary Sources (Official Announcements & Policy Documents)
- HM Treasury / GOV.UK – Press Release (24 October 2025)
“Chancellor unveils plans to supercharge growth of innovative financial services firms.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-unveils-plans-to-supercharge-growth-of-innovative-financial-services-firms - Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – Official Announcement
“Chancellor launches Scale-Up Unit.”
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/chancellor-launches-scale-up-unit - Bank of England / Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
“Scale-Up Unit for Banks and Insurers.”
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/prudential-regulation/scale-up-unit - PRA Eligibility Criteria for Banks (BoE)
Details on scale, growth, and engagement requirements.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/prudential-regulation/scale-up-unit/banks
🔹 Secondary Sources (Industry & Trade Coverage)
- Financial Planning Today (24 Oct 2025)
“New FCA–PRA unit will ‘supercharge’ growth – Chancellor.”
https://www.financialplanningtoday.co.uk/news/new-fca-pra-unit-will-%E2%80%98supercharge%E2%80%99-growth-chancellor - IFA Magazine (24 Oct 2025)
“Chancellor unveils plans to supercharge growth of innovative financial services firms.”
https://ifamagazine.com/chancellor-unveils-plans-to-supercharge-growth-of-innovative-financial-services-firms-launching-scale-up-unit/ - Wired-Gov (24 Oct 2025)
“Chancellor unveils plans to supercharge growth of innovative financial services firms.”
https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Chancellor+unveils+plans+to+supercharge+growth+of+innovative+financial+services+firms - Asset Finance Connect (24 Oct 2025)
“New Scale-Up Unit to cut red tape.”
https://assetfinanceconnect.com/new-scale-up-unit-to-cut-red-tape/ - Mortgage Professional America (MPA UK)
“UK unveils new support unit for financial services firms.”
https://www.mpamag.com/uk/news/general/uk-unveils-new-support-unit-for-financial-services-firms/554217
🔹 Contextual Sources (For AoLP / TTF Commentary)
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended)
Defines FCA and PRA objectives: consumer protection, market integrity, competition.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/8/contents - FCA Mission Statement (2023 update)
Sets out the regulator’s vision and objectives for consumer protection and competition.
https://www.fca.org.uk/about/the-fca-mission - Transparency Task Force Publications
Various briefings on regulatory accountability and consumer detriment.
https://www.transparencytaskforce.org - Financial Ombudsman Service – Fee Introduction for Legal Cases (2025)
Reference for the declining accessibility of redress systems.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Academy of Life Planning 