The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is set to become the UK’s single professional services supervisor for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF), with a phased roadmap now stretching to 2030.
According to Argus Pro, the timeline may be later than many expected, but according to Argus Pro, it should not be mistaken for breathing space.
The government confirmed the FCA’s new role in October 2025, before HM Treasury consulted on its duties, powers and accountability between November and December that year.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill, which contains the clauses moving AML and CTF supervision from the SRA to the FCA, entered Parliament in May 2026, and HM Treasury published its consultation response the following month. Roughly 60,000 businesses and practitioners across legal services, accountancy, and trust and company service providers fall within scope.
Rather than drafting a new rulebook, HM Treasury plans to extend the FCA’s existing powers under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. The emerging regime includes a mandatory FCA register, fit and proper assessments for beneficial owners, officers and managers that exceed current SRA standards, data-driven risk-based supervision and cost-recovery registration fees.
Guidance will remain practitioner-led, with the professions drafting it and the FCA approving it.
Until 2027, the regulator will focus on building capability. This includes recruiting staff who understand legal professional privilege, conveyancing risk and trust administration, creating sector-specific supervisory manuals, building data infrastructure and agreeing information-sharing arrangements with the SRA, OPBAS, HMRC and the National Crime Agency.
For comparison, the FCA’s 2014 takeover of consumer credit regulation, covering around 50,000 firms, took eighteen months to prepare.
A phased transition is expected to begin in late 2028, starting with registration. Firms will need to detail their business model, AML framework, risk profile, controls, ownership structure and MLRO arrangements. Weak documentation will attract early scrutiny, and the PSD2 experience showed that late applicants faced backlogs and uncertainty. Full supervision completes in 2030, when OPBAS ceases to operate.
The FCA’s history suggests firms should not expect leniency. During post-Brexit relief, Consumer Duty and Operational Resilience transitions, it expected compliance as soon as practicable and acted quickly on serious breaches.
There is also an external pressure point. The UK’s next FATF mutual evaluation is due on site in June 2027, with adoption at the 2028 plenary, while the SRA remains the supervisor. Crucially, the FCA has committed to drawing on existing approvals and supervisory information, meaning SRA findings recorded before 2028 will form part of what the new regulator inherits.
With technology implementation alone taking twelve to eighteen months, firms that begin preparing in 2028 risk being unready on day one.
Read the full Argus Pro post here.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
