FCA Non-Financial Misconduct Rule Now Binds 37,000 UK Firms

From 1 September 2026, roughly 37,000 non-bank financial firms in the United Kingdom are held to the same formal conduct standard on bullying, harassment and workplace violence as banks. That is the practical effect of a single new provision, COCON 1.1.7FR, which came into force on that date and pulls serious non-financial misconduct squarely inside the FCA’s binding Code of Conduct. Understanding the FCA non-financial misconduct rule in full requires looking at these details closely.

This article summarises what changed, based on the FCA’s own published rulebook and policy statement, and places it in the context of London’s role as a global financial centre. The FCA non-financial misconduct rule is a regulatory development rather than a data finding from gf6.com’s four-year curated directory of bank branches and ATMs; we cover it here because it directly affects the conduct regime governing the firms listed across our UK pages.

The finding — what the FCA changed on 1 September 2026 — FCA non-financial misconduct rule

On 1 September 2026, a new FCA rule (COCON 1.1.7FR) came into force expanding the scope of the FCA’s Code of Conduct (COCON) to cover serious non-financial misconduct — specifically bullying, harassment and violence toward colleagues — at all SMCR-regulated non-bank financial firms, not just banks. These figures put the FCA non-financial misconduct rule into clearer perspective.

The key facts, as published by the regulator, are as follows:

• New rule: COCON 1.1.7FR
• In force from: 1 September 2026
• Scope of conduct covered: bullying, harassment and violence toward colleagues
• Firms brought into scope: approximately 37,000 non-bank SMCR-regulated firms, including asset managers, insurers, brokers, wealth managers and Lloyd’s market participants
• Finalised in: Policy Statement PS25/23, published by the FCA in December 2025
• Preceded by: consultation paper CP25/18, issued in July 2025
• Not retrospective: conduct occurring before 1 September 2026 is assessed under the previous Handbook version

The change was widely reported and analysed across the legal and compliance press. It was covered in the FCA’s own guidance materials and confirmed by multiple independent legal briefings, including a Clifford Chance briefing on PS25/23 and a Freeths note on what changes on 1 September 2026 — see Clifford Chance and Freeths.

What it means for firms and staff

Until now, the FCA’s Code of Conduct treated non-financial misconduct differently depending on the type of firm. Banks were already inside a stricter regime; the roughly 37,000 non-bank SMCR-regulated firms — a large share of London’s financial services industry — were not held to an equivalent conduct-rule standard for bullying, harassment and violence toward colleagues. COCON 1.1.7FR closes that gap. This context matters for anyone following the FCA non-financial misconduct rule.

In practical terms, breaching the new rule can constitute a conduct rule violation, affect fitness and propriety assessments, and trigger regulatory references. That means workplace behaviour that firms may previously have handled purely as an internal HR matter can now sit alongside financial misconduct in the regulator’s view of whether an individual is fit to work in the industry. It is a central thread in the wider FCA non-financial misconduct rule.

Because the rule is not retrospective, only conduct from 1 September 2026 onward is assessed under the new wording; earlier conduct falls under the previous Handbook version. This is a common feature of FCA rule changes and was expressly confirmed in PS25/23. Such details shaped how the FCA non-financial misconduct rule unfolded.

The shift is generally seen as significant because it standardises expectations across a broad slice of the UK sector — the same sector that hosts a large concentration of international banks in United Kingdom operations, alongside insurers, asset managers, brokers, wealth managers and the Lloyd’s market. Whether the change materially alters day-to-day behaviour will depend on how the FCA enforces it in practice.

Who is affected and who is not

The rule applies to SMCR-regulated non-bank financial firms. According to the FCA, this brings in around 37,000 firms and covers a wide range of business models, including asset managers, insurers, brokers, wealth managers and Lloyd’s market participants. Banks were already within an equivalent regime; they are not the focus of this expansion. This is one of the defining aspects of the FCA non-financial misconduct rule.

The behaviours explicitly named in the rule are bullying, harassment and violence toward colleagues. The FCA has emphasised that these are serious forms of non-financial misconduct. Firms will need to consider how such behaviour is identified, reported, investigated and reflected in fitness and propriety assessments and in regulatory references issued when staff move between firms.

Explore the full data behind this article: bank branches worldwide and ATMs worldwide in the gf6.com directory.

Methodology

The facts above are taken directly from the FCA’s own published materials — principally Policy Statement PS25/23 (December 2025), which followed consultation paper CP25/18 (July 2025), and the guidance published by the FCA on non-financial misconduct: FCA — Non-financial misconduct. The event was independently confirmed by multiple legal briefings, including Clifford Chance and Freeths.

gf6.com maintains a curated worldwide directory of bank branches and ATMs, including UK locations. This piece is contextual coverage of a regulatory event affecting the firms listed in that directory; no figure in this article is derived from the gf6.com dataset, and none of the numbers here have been recalculated. The regulator’s figures and dates are reproduced as published.

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