Supervisory correspondence

Find out how we communicate with the firms we supervise.

We communicate with the firms we supervise to set out:  

  • Our views of how firms and markets are performing.
  • Our approach, priorities and expectations of firms.

Most portfolio letters and Dear CEO letters pre-dating April 2022 are no longer current. Find out more about historical letters and our new approach to communications.

How we communicate

We use a range of different channels to communicate our supervisory concerns and expectations to firms. These include:

  • Publishing our monthly 'Regulation Round-up' email or 'Market Watch' newsletter.
  • Proactively writing or calling from supervisory teams.
  • Hosting industry roundtable events.
  • Speeches from senior FCA staff.
  • Engaging with firms at public events.  
  • Using social media platforms such as X and LinkedIn.

In the future, we plan to publish a small number of market reports once a year detailing the risks and opportunities we see.

Market reports

In our strategy (PDF), we’ve committed to a smaller number of priorities aligned to the strategy. We’ll streamline how we set and communicate our supervisory priorities, publishing a small number of market reports once a year, detailing the risks and opportunities we see.

We currently set detailed, firm-specific, 2-year supervisory programmes for each of the largest firms we regulate. But we want more of the firms we regulate to have direct contact points with us, providing them with better access and us with improved market intelligence.

Our future portfolio communications will be included in market reports, and we’ll continue to share insights from our supervisory work, helping more firms learn lessons from the experience of others.

Portfolio letters

We supervise all firms as members of a portfolio that share a common business model. We previously used portfolio letters to set out our view of the main risks of harm in a portfolio, actions we ask firms to take, and what we’ll be doing to reduce the level of harm in that market.

We’re no longer sending or publishing portfolio letters. But firms should continue to refer to relevant portfolio letters, until we publish our market reports.

Where your firm’s activities span multiple regulated markets, you'll have received a letter for the main portfolio you operate in. But you should also review letters for other portfolios that may be relevant to your business, for awareness of supervisory concerns and expectations.

See all portfolio letters

Historical letters

We've marked most supervisory correspondence pre-dating April 2022 as 'historical' and no longer current. This makes it easier for firms to find supervisory communications setting out our current views.

We don’t expect your firm to refer to these historical letters when interpreting our current supervisory expectations. But we’ve kept these letters publicly available for reference.

See our historical correspondence

: Information changed Introduction of historical letters and market reports.
: Document added Payments portfolio letter
: Document added FCA strategy for Credit Reference Agencies and Credit Information
Service Providers 2025
: Document added Trading venues (2024), Benchmarks (2024), CfD providers (2024), Custody and funds supervision strategy (2024), Data Reporting Services Providers (2024)
: Document added SIPP operators (2024)
: Editorial amendment Reordered some portfolios to 'retail banking' section and new section 'payment and digital assets'
: Document added Portfolio letters for retail banking, building societies, lifetime mortgages, and non-bank mortgage lenders and third-party administrators
: Document added Advisers and intermediaries letter (2024)
: Document added Credit unions, high cost lenders and mainstream consumer credit lenders portfolio letter
: Information added Our Asset Management & Alternatives Supervisory Strategy – interim update