A summary of the new Financial Services & Market Act
RAO & it’s Speakers may have been busy in NY, dealing with the challenge of cancelled flights because of wildfires in Canada, but things were raging here in the UK too, with a powerful state from HM Treasury about changes and drivers affecting the Financial Community as a new Act was passed into law.
The Act is central to the Government’s vision to grow the economy and create an open, sustainable, and technologically advanced financial services sector. An historic week for the City as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 was written into law.
This legislation, which has navigated through Parliamentary scrutiny, symbolizes the beginning of a new era.
29 June 2023
A landmark Bill to regain control of the financial services rulebook has been granted Royal Assent today (Thursday 29 June).
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 is central to delivering the Government’s vision to grow the economy and create an open, sustainable, and technologically advanced financial services sector.
It seizes the opportunities of Brexit by tailoring financial services regulation to fit UK markets. The Act bolsters the competitiveness of the UK as a global financial centre and delivers better outcomes for consumers and businesses.
It contains new powers – available due to Brexit – that will set the path for reforms to Solvency II, which will unlock around £100 billion for productive investment and help cultivate innovation and grow the economy.
The Act also introduces new secondary objectives for the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority – to facilitate the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy. This will be backed up by changes to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the regulators, including ensuring regular reporting and a greater focus on cost-benefit analyses.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith, said:
“2023 is proving to be a banner year for reforming our financial services.
“This landmark piece of legislation gives us control of our financial services rulebook, so it supports UK businesses and consumers and drives growth.
“By repealing old EU laws set in Brussels it will unlock billions in investment – cash that can unlock innovation and grow the economy.”
The changes enable the delivery of key Edinburgh Reforms, putting the UK on course to be the most dynamic and competitive financial services hubs in the world. This includes enabling the implementation of Lord Hill’s UK Listing Review which simplifies the UK prospectus regime – making the UK a better place for companies to IPO.
Today’s ground-breaking Act also:
enhances the scrutiny of the financial services regulators to ensure clear accountability, appropriate democratic input, and transparent oversight
removes unnecessary restrictions on wholesale markets – implementing the key outcomes of the Wholesale Markets Review
protects free access to cash in law and introduces crucial protections for victims of Authorised Push Payment scams
enables the regulation of cryptoassets to support their safe adoption in the UK
establishes ‘sandboxes’ that can facilitate the use of new technologies such as blockchain in financial markets
An historic week for the City as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 was written into law.
This legislation, which has navigated through Parliamentary scrutiny, symbolizes the beginning of a new era.
Here are 11 things that you can expect from this new law:
• Introduces new secondary objectives for the FCA and the PRA to facilitate the growth and competitiveness of the UK economy.
• Repeals hundreds of pieces of retained EU law in financial services, to move to a comprehensive domestic model of financial services regulation, designed specifically for the UK.
• Enhances the scrutiny of the financial services regulators to ensure clear accountability, appropriate democratic input, and transparent oversight.
• Enables key reforms including to Solvency II, unlocking a hundred billion pounds for productive investment including in UK infrastructure and green projects.
• Enables the implementation of a key recommendation of Lord Hill’s UK Listing Review, which will make our Prospectus Regime simpler, more agile and more effective.
• Implements the key outcomes of the Wholesale Markets Review including by removing unnecessary restrictions on trading, promoting the effective use of capital.
• Protects access to cash and requires the FCA to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash deposit and withdrawal services for personal current accounts.
• Protects victims of financial scams by providing for mandatory reimbursement to victims of ‘authorised push payment’ scams.
• Allows credit unions in Great Britain to offer a wider range of products and services, improving options for consumers and allowing the credit union sector to continue to grow sustainably.
• Supports the implementation of Sustainability Disclosure Requirements, a key element of achieving our ambition of becoming the world’s first Net Zero-aligned Financial Centre.
• Promotes the use of new technology in financial services, enabling the regulation of cryptoassets to support safe adoption, and establishing ‘sandboxes’ that can facilitate the use of new technologies such as blockchain in financial markets.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/eE8GweSB
