The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given asset managers temporary flexibility to comply with the naming and marketing rules under its Sustainable Disclosure Requirements (SDR), until April next year. The regime, which was introduced in November 2023, aims to reduce greenwashing risk by introducing new compliance and disclosure requirements for products to qualify for an SDR label. Firms have been able to use the investment labels on their products since the end of July, but upon interacting with the investment industry, the FCA determined that it was taking longer than expected for fund managers to make the required changes. “Given the importance of getting SDR right for investors, we are seeking to take a pragmatic and outcomes-based approach to provide further support to those firms which may need additional time to operationalise any changes required,” the FCA said. As such, fund managers now have until 5pm on 2 April 2025 to comply with the naming and marketing rules – but must continue to comply with all other rules as originally scheduled, including the anti-greenwashing rule that came into effect in May. “We are pleased that the FCA has listened to industry and granted investment management firms additional time to comply with the SDR investment labelling rules,” said Chris Cummings, CEO of the Investment Association. “Our industry has been working hard and at pace to implement the SDR requirements, which will raise standards and improve confidence for investors in the market for sustainable investments.”
