By Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s regulators must push ahead with applying their new post-Brexit remit to help keep the country’s financial sector globally competitive, industry officials said on Thursday.
After Britain’s departure from the European Union, the government has come under pressure to maintain London’s position as a globally competitive financial centre by reforming financial rules inherited from the bloc.
Many of the changes will be introduced under the new Financial Services and Markets law, which received royal assent on Thursday, giving regulators powers to amend rules.
The assent heralds the start of a new era for Britain to get its financial services rules right, UK financial services minister Andrew Griffith told TheCityUK’s annual conference.
In particular, the law gives the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England a remit to ensure that their rules facilitate global competitiveness and economic growth.
“This now needs to be matched by an equally ambitious response to promoting the growth agenda from our regulators,” Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chair of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market told the conference.
Carnegie-Brown, who is also chair of TheCityUK’s leadership council, said financial reforms underway will have to drive a change in mindset towards more bold and confident moves.
Carnegie-Brown said regulators need to make sure that their actions are proportionate to the size of firms being regulated. He cited cash in pension funds which needed unlocking to invest in the economy as another example of aiding growth.
City of London policy chief Chris Hayward said the new objectives for regulation must lead to changes in culture, training, regulation, supervision, metrics and accountability.
“What gets measured gets done, so it’s important that the regulators have clear and appropriate targets and objectives,” Hayward said in a statement.
The Financial Services and Markets law will introduce a new quarterly scorecard to check on now regulators meet competitiveness objectives, as well as a more rigorous focus on the cost and benefits of rules and a newly independent regulatory review commissioner, Griffith said.
Critics of the new objectives have warned against easing rules to attract business to London, but the government has said it will maintain high, international standards.
“We will always have high quality regulation,” Griffith said.
Sheldon Mills, the FCA’s executive director for competition, said the watchdog welcomes its new mandate.
“We have worked towards this, and we are ready to operationalise it through our regulatory work,” Mills said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Alexander Smith and Susan Fenton)
