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ARTICLE · 16 JULY 2026

Costs And Charges Reform: Beyond The Small Print

Macfarlanes LLP
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The Financial Conduct Authority has unveiled sweeping reforms to investment disclosure requirements, fundamentally changing how firms must present costs and charges to consumers while codifying restrictions on platform fee structures. These proposals promise to reshape the regulatory landscape for investment distributors, requiring significant operational changes beyond mere disclosure updates.

United KingdomFinance and Banking
Alexandra Green
Alexandra Green
Rachel Serene
Rachel Serene

The FCA has issued its latest proposals in support of the government’s growth objective on reforms to distributors’ cost and charges disclosures: CP26/24: Simplifying Consumer Investment Disclosures. 

This latest consultation is trailed as focusing on simplification and growth and follows closely on the heels of its recent proposals to reform the Consumer Duty - see our article Cutting back the Consumer Duty | Macfarlanes. However, certain of the reforms require changes to firms’ charging structures and not just to their disclosures.

The FCA’s stated aims are to support both consumers in their investment decision making by providing clearer, more useful information and firms, by reducing unnecessary operational complexity. Lucy Castledine, the FCA’s director of consumer investments, said: 'We want more consumers to feel confident investing by getting clearer information in plain English on products and charges. The changes will give firms more freedom to innovate and communicate

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