Select committee: Treasury Committee
Recommendation 19
First Report - Future of financial services regulation
Published 16 Jun 2022
Paragraph 119
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee Future of Financial Services All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The information the FCA has made available on how it is performing against its service standards shows a deteriorating picture. The FCA has a reputation for being too slow in its authorisation work, and this will inevitably hold back British fintech companies and crypto firms as well as larger firms. When the FCA publishes its next update on the service standards it should write to us, outlining any areas where it is still not meeting its statutory and voluntary timelines, and setting out its strategy for closing any gaps.
From: Treasury Committee, First Report - Future of financial services regulation (HC 141), paragraph 119, 16 June 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 September 2022 (deadline 16 August 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.HM Treasury "notes" each of the Committee's recommendations, setting out the measures in the Financial Services and Markets Bill and, in places, explaining why it does not take the approach the Committee suggested.
- On secondary objectives, the government notes the recommendation and says Clause 24 of the FSM Bill implements new secondary objectives for the FCA and PRA on medium to long-term growth and competitiveness, subject to regulators "aligning with relevant international standards".
- On financial inclusion, it does not consider that a separate 'have regard' for the FCA "would lead to a different approach or tangible improvements over the current arrangements", noting that government already publishes an annual report.
- On a forward schedule for moving EU files to the rulebooks, it recognises that further information on the programme is important and "expects to set out further information in due course".
- On Treasury funding of rule reviews, it notes the recommendation and says the Bill requires the Treasury to 'have regard' to minimising the impact of a direction on the regulator's other functions. On CBA panels, it "does not agree" they would impact regulators' independence.