Select committee: Treasury Committee
Conclusion 6
Fifth Report - The Future Framework for Regulation of Financial Services
Published 6 Jul 2021
Paragraph 49
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee Future of Financial Services All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
It is not clear to what extent the Treasury wishes to implement activity-specific regulation. While the proposal is a key aspect of the Treasury’s future framework consultation, when we asked the Economic Secretary whether the Treasury The Future Framework for Regulation of Financial Services 27 intended to move more towards regulating by activity, he said it did not. We note, however, that the Financial Services Act 2021 already sets regulatory principles for the FCA to follow at an activity-based level in regulating investment firms, and it gives the Treasury a power under secondary legislation to specify further matters to which the FCA must have regard when regulating in this field. We conclude that the Treasury intends to pursue this policy irrespective of the findings of this consultation.
From: Treasury Committee, Fifth Report - The Future Framework for Regulation of Financial Services (HC 147), paragraph 49, 6 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 September 2021 (deadline 6 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it is considering the Committee's recommendations alongside the consultation responses and does not intend to respond to each in detail, as that "would pre-judge" a second consultation due in the autumn.
- The government "agrees with the Committee that the independence of the regulators is vital" and is "committed to preserving the regulators' operational independence".
- On moving on-shored EU law into regulators' rulebooks, it "notes" the Committee's view and says its proposed approach is that independent regulators set direct requirements within a policy framework set by government and Parliament.
- It "welcome[s]" the Committee's recommendation of a "targeted approach" to Select Committee scrutiny, and "notes" the Committee's conclusion on a new committee or body, saying structure of scrutiny is "rightly a matter for Parliament".
- It commits to bring forward "detailed proposals in a second consultation in the autumn".