Both the PSR and FCA are supportive of the CMA’s guidance on its approach to business cooperation under competition law, which was published on 25 March 2020.
Both regulators will take a consistent approach to their competition law enforcement activity in the payments and financial services sectors (under the Competition Act 1998 and/or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). It is important that competition law does not impede firms from working together to provide essential services to consumers in the current coronavirus situation. At the same time, neither the PSR nor the FCA will tolerate conduct that seeks to exploit the situation and harms consumers.