Building a stronger UK investment culture

Speaker: Lucy Castledine, director, consumer investments
Event: Investor Summit 2026, London
Delivered: 18 September 2026
Note: This is the speech as drafted and may differ from the delivered version
Reading time: 7 minutes

Key points:

• How the FCA is supporting growth, innovation and wider access to investments.
• Why a wider range of support and clearer, simpler information is vital to helping people invest with confidence.
• How stronger action against scams and illegal promotions can build trust in markets.

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here at the 2026 Investor Summit, and to be part of a conversation that brings together so many different perspectives on how people invest.

What’s striking about today is the mix of people in the room: individual investors, firms, industry voices and policymakers. We all bring different perspectives, but we share the same goal: a thriving market and opportunities to invest with confidence.

A stronger investment culture will not be built by any one organisation alone. It depends on open conversations, practical ideas and a willingness to work together. That is why events like this are valuable, and I look forward to hearing different views today.

When we talk about building a healthier investment culture in the UK, we mean helping people get the support, clear information and suitable choices they need to make confident decisions. That means firms developing products and services that genuinely meet consumer needs, making sure they are sold in the right way, and giving people the help they need to make confident decisions. Above all, we mean building trust, so people can plan for their financial future with greater confidence.

I’m going to give you the regulator’s view on how we’re supporting a resilient, competitive market that works for consumers. I’ll focus on three areas: growth and innovation, our push for simpler communications and safe access to a wide range of products, and tackling fraud and scams. We want to make sure people are protected and trust in legitimate markets is not undermined.

How we’re supporting the growth agenda

I’ll start with growth. A strong investment sector helps businesses across the country raise the money they need, supports the services we use every day, and helps people make more of their savings over the long term.

That is why we want to help build a market that is open, trusted and competitive — one that gives consumers confidence, gives firms room to innovate, and supports the wider UK economy.

I can’t talk about growth and innovation without mentioning AI. We’re already seeing consumers increasingly using Large Language Models for help making financial decisions. I start by saying that AI is not bad – for example it can help cut through jargon, but there are obvious risks here.

These tools can respond to a variety of prompts and topics but aren’t set up to help consumers with financial advice or decision making. And investors may be misunderstanding the level of protection available. Our research[4] has found that almost half of young people who use AI to support their investing decisions mistakenly believe AI-generated financial information is regulated. We know there is more work to do to make sure consumers are aware of when they have protections.

But the technology has the potential to positively reshape the way consumers interact with investment services, and we want to enable a safe and responsible environment for firms adopting AI. We’re encouraged to see firms using AI tools in novel ways to improve the consumer experience. 

We want to keep working with you to make sure AI adoption is well governed and drives better outcomes for consumers. Our door is always open for a conversation, and the AI Lab[5] is available for any firms looking to develop and test innovative ideas in a live environment. 

We also want to make sure there are always regulated avenues for people to get the right support. Over the last year, we have made some of the biggest changes to retail investments in a generation. The aim is simple: to help more consumers make informed decisions in a way that fits their circumstances.

The need is clear. Across the UK, 7 million adults have £10,000 or more in cash savings and may be missing out on the long-term benefits that investing can offer.

In April, our targeted support regime[6] went live. It means consumers can now receive good, meaningful support in a range of situations. We are pleased that 9 firms have already been authorised to provide it with the potential to reach millions of consumers. And we are starting to see early evidence of the impact of Targeted Support. Monzo, which launched its Targeted Support journey earlier this year, has found that customers who receive an investment recommendation are 33% more likely to open an investment account than comparable customers who do not.

Alongside targeted support, we have consulted on simplifying the advice framework[7]. The aim is to make it easier for firms to offer simpler forms of advice where full, comprehensive advice is not what the consumer wants or needs.

We have also proposed changes to our rules on ongoing advice services, so firms can offer more flexible support tailored to what clients actually need. We plan to publish a policy statement by the end of the year. Taken together, these changes should help firms offer a wider range of services that better meet consumers’ needs.

We are deliberately moving away from a sharp divide between advice and guidance towards a wider range of support that is right for each client. These reforms are also about helping people make better decisions about their pensions and investments, including people holding cash who may be ready to invest when it is right for them.

Targeted support and simplified advice are not a replacement for full financial advice. But they could help millions more people over the next decade get support when full advice is not affordable or is more than they need. For the sector, this creates opportunities to serve existing clients, their families and new customer groups as their needs change.

Safe access and simpler communications

Key to our ambition for the consumer investments market is to ensure people can access a wide range of investments safely. For most people simple, diversified products will be the most appropriate option.

But for those consumers who want to take more risk with some of their portfolio in search of higher returns, there should be safe, regulated avenues to find alternative options. 

To facilitate this, we’ve launched the Public Offer Platform[8], which will help growing companies raise capital. We are also seeing more interest in the Long Term Asset Fund, which gives individual investors a regulated way to access private assets. Together, these shifts give consumers more choice and firms more ways to meet different needs.

And as we open up choices for consumers, we are considering what more needs to be done so consumers can safely find products that meet their needs. We’re listening to feedback that our marketing rules need to clearly and consistently delineate between investments of different risk profiles.  

We have also recently warned consumers about the risks of mini-bonds and loan notes issued by unregulated companies[9]. These products can sit outside the protections people may expect from regulated investments, and the harm can be serious. That is why we continue to urge the Government to review the legislative exemptions that can allow some high-risk investments to be promoted outside our regulation. Consumers should be able to trust that the investment advertising they see is fair, clear and honest.

And the work does not stop there. If we want more people to invest with confidence, the information they receive has to help them make good decisions. It needs to explain the potential rewards, the risks and the protections in a way people can understand and use.

That is the thinking behind our new Consumer Composite Investments[10] regime. We have moved away from prescriptive templates that too often leave people disengaged. Firms will have more freedom to design product information around their customers’ needs. We want firms to use that freedom well and help take some of the mystery out of investing.

Our recent review[11] of pre-sale disclosure documents showed why this matters. We found that only 6% were written in plain English, using a widely recognised tool that shows how easy text is to read (the Flesch-Kincaid method). 

The message for the new rules is straightforward: communications should be clear, practical and free from technical jargon that can put people off. We plan to look at this again next year, so we can see what progress has been made. But firms do not need to wait for that review. 

The real test is whether the information they give people is clear, useful and helps them understand what they are buying, what the risks are and what decisions they need to make. That is what the Consumer Duty[12]’s consumer understanding outcome is really about.

We know there is more to do. Over the summer, we consulted on simplifying the other disclosures[13] investors receive when they use an investment service. We also looked at how firms explain the interest consumers will receive on their cash holdings. We are considering the responses now and expect to make final rules by the end of the year.

We have also been pleased to see the industry playing its part. Risk disclosures should not be a box-ticking exercise. They should help people understand what they are taking on, so they can make informed choices. Done well, clear and balanced information about risk can build confidence and help more people see investing as relevant to them.

The Investment Association’s[14] work has been valuable in challenging standard risk warnings and helping firms think about clearer, more engaging ways to communicate. We have supported that work and welcome the move into implementation.

We are also looking at what more we can do to help firms on this journey. That includes reviewing our rules and guidance on financial promotions, to make sure they don’t encourage unnecessary risk disclaimers and help firms communicate in ways that make financial decisions easier for consumers to navigate.

Financial crime

Delivering this vision depends on confidence in the system. People need to know the market is fair, the firms they deal with are legitimate, and the information they see is reliable. That is why tackling financial crime sits alongside our wider work on growth, access and better support.

Protecting consumers is not a brake on growth. It is one of the conditions for it. When scams and illegal promotions cause harm, they undermine trust in legitimate firms and make people more cautious about investing. Strong consumer protection helps build the confidence people need to participate in markets, and that confidence is essential to sustainable growth.

A key part of our role is spotting risks early, including those at the edge of or outside our regulatory perimeter such as loan notes and mini-bonds. 

Shining a light on those risks helps consumers make better choices and helps others in the system act sooner. We want anyone involved in distributing, funding or supporting high-risk investments to report concerns when they see them. That includes regulated firms, banks, payment firms, lawyers, accountants and auditors. Tackling this harm needs a joined-up response.

We are taking the same approach to unlawful finfluencers and illegal financial promotions online. Social media has changed how people find financial information. It can help firms reach new audiences, but it also gives bad actors a fast route to promote investments unlawfully and at scale.

We will continue to act where people break the rules. In April, we led an international week of action against unlawful finfluencers[15], bringing together 17 regulators. In the UK, that included criminal prosecutions, 48 alerts against unauthorised firms and 120 requests to social media platforms to remove content.

But regulators cannot solve this alone. Technology platforms have a major role to play. Too often, illegal content appears online, moves between accounts and reaches people before it is removed. Deepfake scams and lookalike accounts are making this harder, and we remain concerned about the volume of illegal content on major platforms.

That is why we have worked closely with Ofcom on its fraudulent advertising codes. These codes will be important in holding technology firms to account for scam adverts on their platforms. We encourage financial services firms to engage with Ofcom’s consultation[16] and submit responses by 2 October.

At the same time, tech platforms do not need to wait for new rules. They can do more now to stop fraudulent adverts at source and make it harder for criminals to reach consumers.

Firms can also help. One practical step is for authorised investment firms to sign up to industry initiatives such as UK Finance’s genuine accounts list. This can help banks process payments to legitimate firms more smoothly, while focusing fraud prevention resources where the risks are higher. That should benefit firms, banks and customers.

Conclusion

To conclude, building a stronger investment culture is not about one reform or intervention. It is about creating the conditions for consumers to take part with confidence, firms to innovate and grow, and growth in markets to support the wider economy.

The measures I have spoken about today all support that aim: widening access to investments, giving people better help when they need it, making information clearer and more useful, and acting firmly against scams and illegal promotions.

If we get this right, the prize is significant. More people investing for their future with confidence, stronger legitimate markets, and an investment sector that continues to contribute to growth across the UK. That is the outcome we are working towards, and we look forward to working with all of you to make it happen.