Post-Brexit push: FCA to market London’s financial services sector abroad
The Treasury plans to transform the role of financial regulators to make sure they promote the City’s global competitiveness.
Last year the Treasury launched a consultation into how the role of financial regulators would need to adapt once the UK left the EU. With the Treasury now planning to respond to the report in autumn ministers have hinted that financial regulators could be required to factor Britain’s global position in the financial services sector into policy decisions.
“Now we have left the EU it’s right that we look at how the regulatory framework needs to adapt to be fit for the future,” a Treasury spokesperson said.
“We are working closely with the FCA and PRA to ensure the UK remains an open, green, and technologically advanced financial services sector, based on high regulatory standards. We are considering the responses to our consultation and will publish a second consultation in the Autumn,” they confirmed.
It comes after City minister, John Glen, told financial services companies that regulators needed to wake up and “smell the coffee” over their role in making the sector more competitive. At a private meeting Glen called for a “reset” of the “relationship between the Treasury, parliament and our regulators” the Times first reported.
According to the Times the Treasury could make competitiveness an official part of UK regulators’ remit.
One option being considered is making competitiveness a statutory duty for regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, meaning that regulators would need to factor such concerns into policy making.
A less drastic approach could see competitiveness introduced a secondary regulatory principle, behind consumer protection and fairness.
City firms have lobbied the government to make competitiveness an objective for regulators as the UK’s financial services sector loses out on business to financial capitals in Europe and the US, with Amsterdam surpassing London as the continent’s largest share trading centre in January.