Watchdog PRA puts up banks’ fees to pay for tough new regulations
The Bank of England’s financial regulator is putting up its fees to the industry this year to cover the cost of a swathe of new rules.
The prudential regulation authority (PRA) yesterday proposed a four per cent increase in its charges to £257.8m, up from the £246.8m it charged in the financial year 2014-15.
The extra fees will go towards: implementing the new senior managers’ regime which came from the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards; preparing for the insurance regulation Solvency II; bringing in the CRD4 capital rules for banks, building societies and some investment firms; and building up the Bank of England’s capabilities to run regular stress tests on the banking system.
However, the PRA did not actually spend its entire budget for 2014-15, and so is giving a rebate to finance firms which may ease the pain of the higher fees.
That rebate amounts to £4m, and will be joined by costs recovered from enforcement actions of £1.5m, and a £2.5m surplus from an insurance Solvency II project.
Those refunds will be given at the same time as the coming year’s fees are collected.