Is FCA Regulation worth anything?

I have no qualms about the FCA's funding model, nor about the fact that some of its leaders were bankers.  The FCA could do with more experienced people from the industry, not fewer.

If FCA regulation of P2P has limited value, it is not for the reasons that you suggest but because the scope of the FCA's P2P regulation is narrow but the compliance costs for the platforms (which are all pretty small businesses) are high.  This will ultimately mean lower rates for us.  The cost/benefit is unclear.

On the whole, though, I think it is a necessary evil and I'd rather have FCA regulation than not have it.  There are some popular platforms that I'd not consider putting money into until I know that they have passed muster with the FCA.

It's neither here nor there, that some dodgy firms get FCA approval when they don't deserve it. Nothing's perfect.

The question is, does an FCA regulated platforms fail or swindle their lenders less often than a non-FCA regulated platform? Or by extension, as pikestaff intimates, do the former or the latter, give higher returns to lenders?

At the moment, with one or two exceptions among the newest platforms, they are operating with interim permission and working toward full authorisation.  Only when they have full authorisation will we know that they have passed muster with the FCA.

We're all subject to the regulation but it's not black and white "you can do this, you can't do that", more a set of rules and guidelines that have scope for interpretation.  At this stage the FCA have yet to review every business and having the interim permissions doesn't yet mean much.  AC as a platform have answered a few questions via email / letter and have had one thematic visit from the FCA (that I'm aware of).  Other platforms may have had more interaction or possibly less.  Whilst the regulations apply and the FCA can fine, shut down, or otherwise punish platforms in retrospect if they're later found to have done wrong, and of course we have to operate within the law, the FCA has not as of yet inspected each business in detail and declared their operating practices to be sufficient.  Thus having the interim permission badge in and of itself doesn't really mean lenders can be sure the company is being run in the way that it should be.

That changes to a large degree with full permissions.  Each business is reviewed in detail and over an extended period with the FCA getting to know as much as they can about the platform and the way it operates.  We're at the beginning of that process but with several staff that have previously been through regulatory processes with the FCA (or FSA as it was at the time) we're expecting a tough and thorough examination, and I'd personally be surprised if every last platform made it through without having to make any major changes or possibly even being temporarily shut down whilst something major is corrected.  There are so many interpretations of core rules in use within the industry that either everyone else has far deeper pockets and cleverer advisers than we do, or the FCA will need to be uncharacteristically loose in their interpretation of the rules, or someone somewhere has misinterpreted and the FCA will do what's needed to set them straight.

Barring willful fraud by a platform that sets out to deceive the FCA, once we're operating under full permissions it should mean that each remaining platform is trust worthy and likely to not be taking operational risks with your money.  Lenders will still need to assess the individual offerings to find those that align to their values and risk appetite.

Would they announce it? Or would they just quietly address the issues that had caused the denial, then re-apply, THEN shout about how they've been authorised...

Given, like them, you've turned up late to the party (see post two up from yours), quite possibly!

He said on his appointment that's waht he was going to do. He's been removed because he always missed

Bondora case proves that FCA regulation is will not save investors. Already a fact.