FCA Proposes Simpler Investment Cost Disclosures

The FCA’s July 2026 proposal aims to make total investment costs easier to understand and compare. It is a consultation, while the separate Consumer Composite Investments regime is scheduled to apply from June 2027.

Key facts

• The FCA published the proposal on July 2, 2026.
• It covers communication of product, distribution and advice costs.
• The consultation closed on August 21, 2026.
• Only 6% of 132 reviewed documents were written in plain English.

What the FCA proposed

The FCA proposed a more consistent framework for platforms, advisers and wealth managers to explain the total cost of investing. Distributors would present their own costs alongside product costs and account regularly for the overall cost.

The proposal also addresses disclosures when firms pay interest on client cash or charge related fees. The regulator framed the work as a way to improve comparison and replace jargon with information consumers can use.

Why the FCA says change is needed

The FCA said 30% of non-advised platform users surveyed did not know how much they were charged. In a separate review, only 6% of 132 pre-sale disclosure documents were written in plain English, and all documents assessed for intelligibility were more complex than GCSE level.

What readers should do now

Because the consultation period has closed, the next step is monitoring the FCA’s final response rather than assuming every proposal will be adopted unchanged.

• Compare total costs, not only headline commission.
• Check cash-interest and currency-conversion terms.
• Keep current disclosure documents for later comparison.
• Watch for final FCA rules and implementation dates.
• Distinguish the consultation from the June 2027 CCI regime.

What this alert does not mean

The announcement does not immediately rewrite every broker or platform fee schedule. It does not make one provider cheaper, and clearer disclosure cannot remove product risk.

SafeGate should update UK platform reviews when final rules and revised documents are published, focusing on whether total costs can be reconstructed by a normal reader.

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Sources and verification

• FCA: Financial regulator to simplify investment disclosure regime — published July 2, 2026; jurisdiction: United Kingdom; accessed August 25, 2026.

Last reviewed: August 25, 2026. Recheck dates, status, legal entities and live terms immediately before publication.

Image brief: Before-and-after investment cost statement showing product, distribution and advice costs in plain English.

Disclosure

SafeGate Advisors is not a broker and does not accept deposits. This article is general information, not investment advice. SafeGate may receive compensation from some brokers through affiliate partnerships, but editorial assessments should follow the published methodology and verified evidence.