City regulator offers flexibility to firms during the Covid-19 crisis
The City regulator is offering flexibility to firms to help them operate during this challenging period.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said businesses must be planning ahead and urged firms to contact their FCA supervisor if they are worried they will be unable to meet capital or debt requirements.
The guidance for all firms regulated by the FCA – which includes most P2P lenders – also said that government schemes to help firms through this period should make up part of their plans for how they will meet debts as they fall due.
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“We want to see firms to continue operating in this challenging period, and, where we can, we intend to provide flexibility to regulated firms to ensure this,” the regulator said in a blog post on its website.
“Capital and liquidity buffers are there to be used in times of stress. Firms who have been set buffers can use them to support the continuation of the firm’s activities.
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“Firms should be planning ahead and ensuring the sound management of their financial resources.”
The regulator also said that if firms need to exit the market, planning should consider how this can be done in an orderly way while taking steps to reduce the harm to consumers and the markets.
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