Context
On 19th July , In his first official speech as Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi set out ambitious plans to transform the UK financial services sector. At Mansion House, Zahawi confirmed that the government will introduce legislation (20th July) to repeal hundreds of pieces of EU retained law governing the sector – so that it can be replaced with an agile and coherent regime fit for the UK. He also set out measures to boost consumer protection, embrace technological innovation, and further enhance the growth and competitiveness of UK financial services. The Chancellor’s speech noted how government is delivering on its vision for an open, green, and technologically advanced financial services sector that is globally competitive.
Key points to note
In addition to information in relation to the new Financial Services and Markets Bill (see below) the Chancellor set out progress in a number of other areas, including:
- Accepting the recommendations to the government of the Secondary Capital Raising Review, including appointing a Chair of a new Digitisation Taskforce
- Delivering reforms to the Prospectus Regime
- Delivering reforms to Solvency II
- Supporting the work of the Transition Plan Taskforce
- Working to understand the application of Distributed Ledger Technology to sovereign debt issuance
- Publishing the first edition of the State of the Sector Report jointly with the City of London Corporation
Other publications have been released following the speech, including the introduction of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, the first ‘State of the sector: Annual review of UK financial services 2022’ report, and the responses to the Consultation responses to the Consultation about the Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review: Proposals for Reform (see separate articles below).
Next actions
None – for information and awareness, but there is a significant amount of detail included within the speech and, in particular, the other publications mentioned above and detailed below.