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The FCA just opened something new. Starting May 20, 2026, solo-regulated financial firms in the UK can apply to join the regulator’s freshly launched Scale-up Unit — a dedicated support program built specifically for companies that are growing fast and running into the friction that comes with that.
The pitch is pretty straightforward. Fast-growing firms often hit a wall when regulatory complexity outpaces their internal capacity to deal with it. Hiring compliance teams, figuring out which FCA touchpoints matter, adapting products to shifting policy — it’s a lot, especially when you’re trying to scale at speed. The Scale-up Unit gives firms a dedicated contact point inside the FCA, plus tailored guidance on navigating regulatory processes, building out new products, and keeping up with policy shifts. Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, information, and intelligence officer, is behind the push. Her view: firms should be able to grow with confidence, and the UK’s reputation as a top destination for financial business depends on making that possible.
Not just a concept anymore.
Pilot Already Running With Six Dual-Regulated Firms
The FCA didn’t just flip a switch on this. Before opening applications to solo-regulated firms, the regulator and the Prudential Regulation Authority ran a pilot with six dual-regulated firms. That pilot is still going. The point was to figure out what “effective support” actually looks like in practice — not in theory, not in a policy document, but in real interactions with real firms trying to grow. Whatever comes out of that pilot is supposed to feed back into how the FCA shapes its policies and regulatory processes going forward, with a particular eye on keeping pace with technological innovation.
Six firms isn’t a huge sample. But it’s a start, and the FCA seems to want the feedback loop running before it scales the thing up.
The application window for solo-regulated firms runs from May 20 to June 22, 2026. That’s a tight window — barely five weeks. Firms that want in should probably move fast. The FCA is asking interested companies to review the eligibility criteria and application process before submitting, which is standard, but worth flagging given the short timeline.
How the Scale-Up Unit Fits the Bigger Picture
The Scale-up Unit doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s designed to slot into a broader ecosystem of FCA support programs that already exist — Innovation Pathways, the Pre-Application Support Service known as PASS, and the Early and High Growth Oversight function. The idea is that a firm shouldn’t fall off a cliff of support at any particular growth stage. Start-up support, early-growth support, scale-up support — the FCA wants it to feel like a continuous track rather than a series of disconnected programs you stumble onto by accident.
That’s the ambition, anyway. Whether the integration actually works smoothly in practice is unclear yet. Firms that have used Innovation Pathways or PASS will probably have a sense of how well the FCA’s support infrastructure holds together. The Scale-up Unit is meant to extend that infrastructure upward, catching firms at the point where they’ve moved past early-stage uncertainty but still face real regulatory complexity as they expand.
It’s worth noting what the FCA is trying to protect here. The UK’s position as a global financial hub isn’t guaranteed. Other jurisdictions compete hard for the same firms, and regulatory friction is one of the things that pushes companies to set up elsewhere or expand in markets with lighter-touch oversight. The Scale-up Unit is basically the FCA saying it wants to reduce that friction without reducing oversight — a balance that’s genuinely hard to strike.
Rusu’s framing matters here. She’s the chief data, information, and intelligence officer, not the chief executive or a policy lead in the traditional sense. Her involvement probably speaks to where the FCA sees the action — data-driven firms, tech-forward financial businesses, companies building products that don’t fit neatly into existing regulatory boxes. Those are the firms that probably need this most.
No details yet on how many firms the Scale-up Unit can handle at once, or what happens after the initial application window closes. The FCA says it’ll keep refining its approach based on feedback from participating firms, which is a reasonable commitment but also pretty vague. What “refining” looks like in practice — faster response times, clearer guidance documents, more flexible product development conversations — the regulator didn’t specify.
And the pilot with the six dual-regulated firms is still running. The FCA says those insights will shape how policy and regulatory processes evolve. That feedback loop is probably the most interesting part of the whole thing, because it means the unit isn’t static. It’s supposed to adapt. Whether it actually does will depend on how seriously the FCA takes what it hears back from firms.
For now, the application window is open. June 22 is the cutoff.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the FCA Scale-up Unit actually offer firms?
It provides a dedicated contact point inside the FCA, tailored help navigating regulatory processes, support developing new products, and guidance on adapting to policy changes — aimed specifically at fast-growing solo-regulated firms.
Who is running the FCA Scale-up Unit?
Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, information, and intelligence officer, is the named figure behind the initiative, with the goal of letting firms grow with confidence in the UK market.
