The Financial Conduct Authority has been busier in the last eighteen months than in the previous five. The Advice Guidance Boundary Review (AGBR) is the consequential one — it reshapes what a firm can do for a consumer at four distinct levels of service, from pure guidance through Targeted Support, Simplified Advice, and full holistic advice. Consumer Duty is the parallel discipline that sits across all four. The articles below are the working notes our regulatory authors have built up from inside the rules.
Each piece carries a named author and a named reviewer. Each cites primary FCA sources. Each is reviewed quarterly so the position doesn't drift as the policy moves. Read our editorial policy for the sourcing standards.
Articles
Targeted Support — the FCA's April 2026 rules
The new permission going live on 6 April 2026. What it lets a firm do, who it's for, and how to decide whether to apply.
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CP26/10 — Simplifying pensions and investment advice
The FCA's parallel consultation on Simplified Advice. What's being proposed and how an IFA firm should respond.
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Consumer Duty year 2 — outcomes monitoring
The evidence year. What the annual board report should contain and how to monitor outcomes across the four-outcomes framework.
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Fair value assessment template
A practical template for assessing fair value on panel products and on the firm's own ongoing-service fee, with a worked example.
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Consumer Duty for MPS firms — the FCA review
What the FCA found in its multi-firm MPS review and the implications for IFAs using third-party MPS solutions.
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How to identify a vulnerable client
The four FCA-defined drivers, the questions that surface them, GDPR-compliant recording, and the adaptations that work.
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Sub-topics
Consumer Duty
Year 2 outcomes monitoring, fair value assessment, MPS distribution chain, and the annual board report cycle.
Targeted Support
The new permission going live 6 April 2026 and the Advice Guidance Boundary Review reforms around it.
Vulnerable clients
Identification, recording, adaptation and outcomes monitoring under FG21/1 and the FCA-ICO joint guidance.
About the regulatory authors
Eliot Jones (DipPFA, CCIBS) anchors Wealth Analytica's regulatory writing as a practising wealth manager and co-Chief Commercial Officer. Matthew Hull (CFA, MSCI) reviews — a former CIO and CFA charterholder named a top UK wealth manager. Between them the bench covers conduct, suitability, portfolio construction, and the chain-wide picture Consumer Duty asks firms to assemble.