The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have signed an arrangement that commits the two regulators to collaborating and supporting innovative firms through each other’s FinTech initiatives – namely FCA Innovate and LabCFTC.

The new FinTech arrangement focuses on information-sharing for financial technology market trends and developments. It also facilitates referrals of FinTech companies interested in entering the other’s market, and the sharing of information and insight derived from each authority’s relevant sandbox, proof of concept and innovation competitions.

FCA Innovate was created in October 2014 and LabCFTC in May 2017. One of the reasons the initiatives were set up was to help businesses with innovative ideas navigate the regulatory landscape and engage with the regulators.

To date, the FCA’s Innovation Hub has supported over 500 businesses and the authorisation of 43 businesses. LabCFTC has engaged with over 150 entities since its launch, published its first ‘primer’ on the topic of virtual currencies, and will soon seek public feedback on a planned 2018 innovation competition.

Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA, said of the new arrangement: “International borders shouldn’t act as a barrier to innovation and competition in financial services and that is why agreements like the one we have signed today with the CFTC, a forward-looking and proactive regulator, are so important.

“As our first agreement of this kind with a US regulator, we look forward to working with LabCFTC in assisting firms, both here in the UK and in the US, who want to scale and expand internationally in our respective markets.”

CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo added: “The FCA’s Project Innovate is the gold standard for thoughtful regulatory engagement with emerging technological innovation. Therefore I am delighted to join Andrew Bailey in this arrangement to demonstrate our cross-Atlantic commitment to facilitating market-enhancing innovation and sharing best practices in FinTech engagement.

“We believe that by collaborating with the best-in-class FCA FinTech team, the CFTC can contribute to the growing awareness of the critical role of regulators in 21st century digital markets.”

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