UK Government Publishes Financial Services Bill
Date: 27 January 2012
Source: HM Treasury
The UK Government has published its much anticipated Financial Services Bill, which overhauls the structure of financial regulation in the UK. The Bill comes after a number of publications and consultations on the reform of financial regulation, and so underscores plans already in train. It will replace the Financial Services Authority (FSA) with two new bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the latter of which will be a subsidiary of the Bank of England. The Bill will also formally establish the responsibilities of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) at the Bank, which will be responsible for macro-prudential oversight. An interim FPC has been meeting since June 2011, in anticipation of the Government’s legislation. The Bill also spells out the Government’s response to concerns about the governance of the FPC, with the Government granting the Chancellor of the Exchequer “a limited statutory power of direction” over the Bank when public funds are at risk, and mandating retrospective internal policy reviews.