Today the House of Commons Treasury Committee announced its intention to increase parliamentary scrutiny and oversight of financial regulation. MPs will form a new Sub-Committee for scrutiny of financial services regulations to consider individual regulatory proposals and the overall approach regulators take.
In making their announcement, MPs noted the significant new powers and responsibilities UK regulators have gained since the UK left the EU, resulting in the requirement for greater democratic oversight.
Commenting on the announcement, Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said, “The creation of a new Sub-Committee to scrutinise financial services regulation is a critical piece of the puzzle in creating a new, distinctly British approach to regulation outside the EU. We called for this additional level of parliamentary scrutiny, which has the widespread support of the financial and related professional services industry and civil society groups, to provide the essential democratic oversight needed for the significant new powers and responsibilities flowing to UK regulators since Brexit.
“Regulators will be amending and producing a vast body of rules that will have wide reaching impacts on the whole of society. This additional democratic scrutiny will help drive a regulatory culture which is robust, fair, proportionate, competitive, and customer-centric. Should the UK move away from global standards, start to add complexity or gold-plate existing regulations, or undermine competition and innovation, this new sub-committee will give MPs the tools needed to intervene.”
International benchmarks needed to fully assess regulators’ impact on competitiveness and growth
New research shows that the UK financial regulators’ metrics to track progress against their secondary objective for competitiveness and growth will provide world-leading transparency and accountability.