Financial Services Bill
“Steps will be taken to provide certainty, stability
and new opportunities for the financial
services and legal sectors. ”
The purpose of the Bill is to:
-
Ensure that the UK maintains its world-leading regulatory
standards and remains open to international markets after we
leave the EU.
The main benefits of the Bill would
be:
-
Supporting the UK’s position as an international
financial services centre.
-
Enhancing the competitiveness of the UK’s financial
services sector, while maintaining high standards to protect UK
consumers so that they can use financial services’ products
with confidence.
-
The Government will set out further measures to ensure
the UK maintains its world-leading regulatory standards and
remains open to international markets after we leave the EU in
due course.
The main elements of the Bill are:
-
Simplifying the process which allows overseas investment
funds to be sold in the UK. This will maintain our position as
a centre of asset management and provide more choice to UK
consumers, in line with commitments made during our
preparations for leaving the EU.
-
Implementing the Basel standards to strengthen the
regulation of global banks, in line with previous G20
commitments.
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Delivering our commitment for long-term market access to
the UK for financial services firms in Gibraltar as part of the
UK family.
Territorial extent and application
-
The Bill’s provisions would extend and apply to the whole
of the UK. Financial services are generally a reserved
matter.
Key facts
-
The financial services sector is critical to the UK
economy:
o It employs more than 1 million people across
regional hubs in all four of our nations.
o It contributes more than £127 billion to our
national economy per year.
o Our financial services trade surplus is over
£61 billion.
-
This Bill will build on the extensive secondary
legislation that the Government brought forward under the EU
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 to ensure the effective operation of
retained EU law, and thereby support the financial services
sector.
-
Key recent steps taken by the Government to support
financial services sector include:
o Reforming the previous financial services
regulatory architecture which failed during the 2008 financial
crisis through the creation of a new ‘twin peaks’ system.
o Promoting competition by making it easier to
switch banks and encouraging new banks to enter the
market.
o Ensuring the UK is a world leader in FinTech
through the Sector Strategy.
o Ensuring the financial services sector is
supported to help meet the Government’s commitments on climate
change.
