United Kingdom

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR)

The FCA and PSR announced that they support the CMA’s guidance on its approach to business cooperation in response to COVID-19 under competition law and will take a consistent approach to their competition law enforcement activity in the financial services sector. This means that these regulators will not enforce competition law in a way that impedes financial services providers from working together to provide essential services to consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 and Civil Procedure Rule Updates. On 25 March 2020, Civil Procedure Rule Practice Direction 51Y (PD51Y) came into force, to facilitate video and audio hearings for the duration of the pandemic.