Blasted for Heavy Hand, UK’s FCA Plots Strategy to Support Firms

The UK’s top financial regulator has spent much of its eleven-year history in combat with the industry it oversees, a tone set by its first chief executive Martin Wheatley, whose zeal for fining banks got him ousted in 2015.

Now, top executives at the Financial Conduct Authority are trying to rewrite the script by devising a five-year strategy they hope will shore up support among the more than 42,000 companies policed by the agency, as well as a new government pushing for a more growth-friendly approach.

Two people familiar with the project told Bloomberg News that “Strategy 25,” on ...