The FCA's 2026 retail banking priorities are access to cash and essential banking services, good customer outcomes under the Consumer Duty, fighting fraud and financial crime, and operational resilience and data security. They are set out in the Retail Banking Regulatory Priorities report published in March 2026, the first in a new annual series that replaces the FCA's portfolio letters. The report is addressed to the boards and chief executives of retail banks and building societies and covers the following 12 months.
| Priority | What the FCA expects |
|---|---|
| Access to cash and essential services | Fill local cash gaps where designated, keep alternatives accessible before closing branches, meet basic bank account rules, avoid unnecessary account freezes |
| Good outcomes (Consumer Duty) | Better outcome data and governance, action on vulnerability, financial difficulty and poor value, including for savers |
| Fraud and financial crime | Help customers understand fraud risk, support victims fairly, strengthen controls |
| Operational resilience and data security | Manage technology, cyber, third-party and insider risks; prepare for new reporting rules |
Access to Cash and Essential Banking Services
The FCA identifies access to cash and essential banking services as a primary concern for the retail banking sector. As banks continue to close physical branches and migrate services to digital channels, the regulator is focused on ensuring that customers, particularly those in rural areas, elderly customers, and customers with limited digital access, are not excluded from essential financial services.
Designated firms must fill significant gaps in local cash access under the FCA's access to cash rules. When moving to digital-first services, banks must avoid foreseeable harm and make sure alternatives are accessible before a branch closes. Banks designated under the basic bank account rules must make applications easy for eligible customers, and financial crime controls must not lead to unnecessary or overlong account freezes. The FCA plans to begin reviewing the access to cash regime in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Consumer Duty: Moving to Outcomes Testing
The FCA wants banks to improve the data and dashboards they use to monitor customer outcomes and the governance around them, and to act where customers need support or face foreseeable harm. For banks, this means:
Fair value assessments must be evidence-based and regularly reviewed. Banks must demonstrate that the prices charged for products and services are proportionate to the benefits provided, and that any cross-subsidisation does not result in particular customer groups paying disproportionately.
Customer communications must be clear, fair and not misleading. The FCA is conducting mystery shopping exercises and reviewing customer journey data to assess whether communications genuinely support customer understanding.
Customer support must be accessible and effective, especially for customers in vulnerable circumstances and customers in financial difficulty.
Savings value is a specific concern. The report notes that between January 2023 and November 2025, deposits in lower-paying easy access accounts at the nine largest banks fell by £124 billion while fixed term and notice deposits rose by £140 billion, and it questions whether cash savers who stay in low-rate accounts are getting fair value.
New products, including those using AI, should be designed with customer outcomes at the centre.
Financial Crime Prevention
Financial crime prevention remains a high-priority area for retail banks. The FCA's focus in 2026 includes:
APP fraud prevention and reimbursement. Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is where a customer is tricked into sending money to a fraudster. The report notes that the Payment Systems Regulator's mandatory reimbursement policy returned 88% of money lost in its first year, October 2024 to September 2025, and an independent evaluation of the policy is due to conclude in the third quarter of 2026. Banks should help customers understand fraud risks, support victims fairly and strengthen their controls, including through appropriate use of AI.
Sanctions compliance. Banks must maintain robust sanctions screening across all customer onboarding and transaction processes, with particular attention to evolving sanctions regimes.
Suspicious activity reporting. The FCA expects banks to maintain effective systems for identifying and reporting suspicious activity, with quality of SARs as important as quantity.
Operational Resilience and Data Security
Banks should identify emerging risks, including from technology change, critical third parties, cyber threats and insider risk, and test their response plans. When incidents happen they must stay within their impact tolerances, meaning the maximum disruption they have set for each important service, and keep affected customers informed. The FCA's incident and third-party reporting rules in PS26/2 start on 18 March 2027.
Other Areas of Focus and Key Dates
The report also covers business banking outcomes, innovation (open banking, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and targeted support), the motor finance commission review and the SM&CR review, which aims to reduce the regime's burden.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 6 April 2026 | Targeted support regime went live |
| 24 April 2026 | Most SM&CR reforms in PS26/6 took effect |
| Q3 2026 | Independent evaluation of the APP fraud reimbursement policy concludes |
| Q4 2026 | Review of the access to cash regime begins |
| 18 March 2027 | Incident and third-party reporting rules apply |
| 25 October 2027 | UK cryptoasset regime, including stablecoin issuance, starts |
Banks considering stablecoins or tokenised deposits should read our guides to the UK banking licence and UK cryptoasset authorisation.
What Banks Should Do Now
- Take the report to the board and record how each priority applies to the bank.
- Check branch closure plans, cash access and basic bank account processes against the FCA's expectations.
- Review savings rates and customer communications for fair value, and improve outcome data.
- Review APP fraud controls, reimbursement handling and account freezing practices.
- Prepare incident and third-party reporting processes for 18 March 2027.
Regulatory Counsel advises banks and building societies on FCA compliance strategy, Consumer Duty implementation and regulatory priorities alignment. Contact us for a written proposal.
Frequently asked questions
Published in March 2026, it is the FCA's annual report for retail banks and building societies setting out its priorities for the next 12 months. It replaces the previous portfolio letter and is addressed to boards and chief executives.
Access to cash and essential banking services; good outcomes under the Consumer Duty, including value for savers and support for vulnerable customers; fighting fraud and financial crime; and operational resilience and data security.
The FCA wants banks to improve outcome data and dashboards, strengthen governance over them and act where customers face foreseeable harm. It also plans to publish mystery shopping findings on basic bank accounts and fair value insights for business current accounts.
Under the Payment Systems Regulator's mandatory reimbursement policy, in force since 7 October 2024, payment firms must reimburse in-scope APP fraud victims, subject to limits and exceptions. The FCA report notes that 88% of money lost was returned in the policy's first year.
The report questions whether cash savers in lower-paying easy access accounts get fair value. It notes that from January 2023 to November 2025 such deposits at the nine largest banks fell by £124 billion, while fixed term and notice deposits rose by £140 billion.
Yes. Under access to essential banking services, the FCA says banks' financial crime controls should not lead to unnecessary or overlong freezing of customer accounts.
Definitive guides on this topic
The permanent reference pages this article relates to.