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Following through on intentions announced in its January 2025 letter to the Prime Minister, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is to establish an overseas presence to support the UK’s drive for economic growth.
The FCA’s US office will be headed by Tash Miah, who will work closely with the Department for Business and Trade on US-UK financial services policy and regulatory cooperation, the regulator said.
Miah began working in the British Embassy in Washington in April 2025.
The regulator will also establish a regional office in Australia from July, headed by its Asia-Pacific director, Camille Blackburn.
The Australian presence will focus on helping financial services firms navigate regulation to enter the UK market, as well as raising capital and providing UK firms with support when expanding into the Asia-Pacific region.
Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s executive director, supervision, policy, competition and international, said the appointments would help the regulator support growth through the export of UK financial services and by attracting more inward investment.
“The UK is a global hub for financial services. We recognise that major international investors want easier access to us, and having a presence in these key regions will help achieve that,” she said.
Regulating for growth
FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi had signalled the regulator’s plans to establish a presence in both the US and Asia in a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in January 2025.
The letter was a response to the government’s call for regulators to support its growth agenda, and the FCA was clear that it was on board, stating that “growth will be a cornerstone of our strategy, through to 2030”.
The letter emphasised plans to reduce the regulatory burden on financial organisations, and said one key step was to remove the need for a board-level Consumer Duty champion.
However, as covered by Vixio, commenters have met this step with scepticism.
In the letter, the FCA suggested it was considering giving the go ahead to a new open banking payment method, as well as removing the £100 contactless limit.
The move to establish a presence in the US and Australia suggests that the regulator intends to follow through on the commitments it made in its letter to the Prime Minister, so further developments can be expected in the coming months.
