The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published a joint approach to regulating systemic stablecoin issuers, setting out how oversight will be shared once a stablecoin is designated as systemically important by HM Treasury.
Under the proposed framework, the FCA will continue supervising all UK-issued qualifying stablecoins, with the Bank assuming responsibility for prudential oversight once an issuer is recognised as systemic. The authorities said the approach is intended to provide a clear transition from sole FCA supervision to joint regulation.
The document outlines how supervisory responsibilities will be divided, with the FCA leading on conduct, consumer protection and market integrity, and the Bank overseeing areas including capital, backing assets, safeguarding and financial stability requirements. Both regulators will jointly supervise governance, operational resilience and risk management.
The proposals also describe how firms entering the systemic regime could be granted transition periods, typically 12 to 36 months, to meet the Bank’s prudential requirements. The Bank said it could temporarily modify certain requirements during that period using its statutory powers.
The consultation also covers firms expected to become systemic shortly after launch. The regulators proposed a staged onboarding process, allowing new issuers to scale operations under proportionate supervisory requirements before moving to full oversight. Feedback on the proposals is open until September 30, 2026.
