Division of responsibilities: How HM Treasury, the FCA and the Bank of England work together on tokenised real‑world assets

HM Treasury is the primary policy and legislative authority: it frames high-level objectives for financial markets, proposes statutory changes and consults on areas such as custody, insolvency and registration of digital assets. The Treasury’s role is to set the statutes and enablement that other regulators apply in practice. The FCA is the conduct and prudential regulator for firms carrying out regulated activities. It defines rules on authorisation, financial promotions, consumer protections, prudential resources where applicable, and ongoing conduct requirements for firms offering tokenised investment products to UK investors.

The Bank of England’s remit focuses on systemic stability and the resilience of market infrastructure. That includes oversight of payment systems, central bank considerations for settlement finality, and the implications of tokenised securities for market-wide liquidity and operational resilience. Where tokenised assets intersect with systemic infrastructure — for example if a widely used settlement ledger was to emerge — the Bank’s input on operational risk, contingency arrangements and settlement finality becomes material.

These institutions work collectively through consultations, memoranda of understanding and cross-government groups to reduce regulatory gaps. For retail investors considering fractional property or renewable assets, understanding which body has responsibility for market conduct, statutory law and systemic resilience can clarify where protections come from and which questions to ask of platforms offering tokenised shares.