Context
Following a Treasury proposal in its Financial Services and Markets Bill, to include a power that would enable it to “direct a regulator to make, amend or revoke rules”, the FCA has warned that allowing further government interference in regulation could compromise its independence, impacting the UK financial markets.
Key points to note
The FCA’s CEO Nikhil Rathi told the Treasury Select Committee that, in areas like enforcement, it would be a “very big departure for there to be political rulemaking.”
FCA acting chair Richard Lloyd told lawmakers that, even if the Treasury used the proposed power sparingly, it would undermine the FCA’s independence and hit the international competitiveness of UK financial markets; “the perception of erosion of our independence will happen very rapidly,” Lloyd told the committee.
Next actions
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