📍Financial Conduct Authority's Jessica Rusu: "UK is a “Trusted Hub” for Digital Asset Innovation"
🎤 Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), used her keynote at TheCityUK International Conference 2025 last week to position the UK as a global leader for digital asset regulation and innovation.
📍Rusu highlighted that, even amid global uncertainty, the UK offers “clarity, stability, and proportionate regulation” – providing the conditions firms need to “start up and scale up with confidence.” She stressed that the FCA is backing growth by streamlining regulatory processes, cutting burdens, and adopting a more dynamic approach to supervision and authorisation.
➡️ Signalling a strong response to recent government pressure on regulators to fuel economic growth, Rusu pointed to initiatives like regulatory sandboxes, an AI lab, and partnerships with government and industry to drive open finance as evidence of the FCA’s proactive role.
➡️ Turning to crypto, Rusu described it as an “inherently global sector” and underlined the FCA’s efforts to keep the UK competitive internationally. She said the FCA is actively shaping global standards through key roles in international bodies including IOSCO, the FSB, and FATF.
“Our domestic regulation must stay competitive while contributing to international standards for digital assets across the world,” Rusu said.
