Recommendation 170

In response to these concerns, the FCA told us that it is working to review the redress framework in partnership with the FOS, but that “some of this goes back to the choices in the underlying statute and the breadth of discretion—for example, in the case of FOS, around the fair and reasonable test—and other things in the underlying law.” 260 In response to the Committee’s question on whether these reforms would require legislation, Nikhil Rathi told us that there are steps that the FCA can take to “ensure that we can spot issues better and act earlier if we see significant complaints come forward”, 261 but stated: “we have a multilayered system and, of course, the common law is not within our gift. Ultimately, those are all matters for the Government and Parliament.” 262