Money Covered: The Week That Was – 1 May 2026

Welcome to The Week That Was, a round-up of key events in the financial services sector over the last seven days.

The fifth episode of Season 4 of our podcast, Money Covered – The Month That Was, where the team looks at the Financial Conduct Authority's Vehicle Finance Redress Scheme Consultation, is now available.

To listen to this and all previous episodes, please click here.

Headline development

Pension Schemes Bill clears Parliament and receives Royal Assent

After many months of deliberation and changes, the Pension Schemes Bill (the Bill) has now finally been passed into law.

In the last few weeks, the Bill went back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, focusing on provisions concerning mandated investments. Ultimately, the Government's power to mandate investments was scaled back significantly in scope and time limited.

The Pension Schemes Act is being heralded as 'landmark' legislation which introduces some significant reforms. The DWP has projected that the reforms will result in a boost of £29,000 to the average worker's pension pot by the time they retire.

Highlights for pension professionals and their insurers in the new law include requirements for provision of retirement income solutions, a solution for the s37 Virgin Media case fallout, consolidation of small pension pots, and provisions to allow defined benefit schemes to release surplus.

To read more, please click here.

Pensions

ONS data reveals surge in lump sum pension withdrawals ahead of 2025 Autumn Budget

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data has revealed that tax-free cash withdrawals by pensioners surged 29% in the 12 months leading to Q3 2025. Broadstone analysed the ONS data and found that members drew £3.9bn between Q4 2024 and Q3 2025, some £868m more than the previous 12-month period.

Data suggests that the surge in drawings from defined contribution pensions was likely driven by uncertainty as to whether Labour would cut the 25% tax free allowance in the Autumn 2023 and 2024 budgets. Advisers also reported an increase in clients asking whether they should take their tax-free lump sums last year.

To read more, please click here.

Regulatory developments for FCA regulated entities

FCA Week of Action targets illegal finfluencer promotions

Starting on 20 April 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) led a global “week of action” targeting illegal finfluencers. This involved 17 regulators worldwide and combined enforcement, consumer campaigns and education for responsible finfluencers.

In the UK, the FCA secured a guilty plea from Geordie Shore’s Aaron Chalmers, commenced criminal proceedings against two further individuals, sent four targeted warning letters, issued 34 and updated 14 new warning alerts and made 120 social media account takedown requests. Across those accounts it identified 1,267 illegal financial adverts reaching at least 2.3mn UK accounts – with 66% linked to firms/individuals already on the FCA Warning List.

The FCA is pressing social media platforms to take more proactive action and enforce their own policies - being that UK-facing financial adverts must be from, or approved by, authorised firms / individuals. Consumers are encouraged to use the FCA Firm Checker and Warning List. This international initiative follows an earlier coordinated week of action in June 2025.

To read more, please click here.

FCA published 2025 H2 complaints data

The FCA has published its latest data for 2025 H2, showing a broadly stable picture in overall complaint volumes, but a shift between the financial products being complained about.

The overall number of complaints received by firms in the latter half of 2025 increased by 0.9%, compared with the previous 6 months. Of this increase, insurance and pure protection saw the sharpest rise of 10.1%. In a market focused on treating customers fairly, this may indicate customers willingness to challenge outcomes and assessments.

The product groups with falling complaints are:

•    Banking and credit cards: down 4.7% (from 899,910 to 857,757).
•    Decumulation and pensions: down 6.6% (from 94,035 to 87,842).
•    Home finance: down 3.8% (from 78,616 to 75,658).
•    Investments: down 6.9% (from 58,305 to 54,263).

The FCA publishes data every 6 months from firms which report 500 or more complaints within the 6-month period. This data is used to encourage transparency for the industry and consumers generally, and to assist in the monitoring and prevention of harm within the market.

To read more, please click here.

FCA publishes fund tokenisation guidance for asset managers

The FCA has published its finalised guidance (PS26/7) on fund tokenisation, and the use of distributed ledger technology by authorised fund managers within the existing UK authorised funds regime. The new rules and guidance take effect immediately.

The policy statement covers tokenised authorised funds and introduces new rules for an optional Direct to Fund dealing model. Under that model, investors may transact directly with the fund itself, whether the fund is traditional or tokenised.

Key points of the guidance include:

•    Tokenisation can be used within the existing authorised funds regime.
•    Direct to Fund is optional and may be adopted for new or existing schemes; and
•    Existing regulatory obligations continue to apply.

The guidance is particularly relevant to authorised fund managers, UCITS management companies, UK AIFMs managing authorised funds, depositaries and firms involved in fund infrastructure. The policy statement provides further guidance for asset managers considering tokenised fund structures.

Firms considering tokenisation will need to assess whether the right controls are in place for the use of distributed ledger technology, including where fund records or operational processes are supported by public chain models.

Where firms consider using the Direct to Fund model, they will also need to assess how it interacts with their current dealing, platform, transfer agency, depositary and investor communication arrangements.

To read more, please click here.

With thanks to this week's contributors: Heather Buttifant, James Parsons, Brendan Marrinan, Ben Simmonds, Alison Thomas and Kerone Thomas

If you have any queries please do get in contact with a member of the team, or your usual RPC contact.