The Chancellor George Osborne has revealed details about the Financial Services Bill that will overhaul regulation of the sector.
It will give the Chancellor the power to veto decisions made by the Bank of England when dealing with bank bailouts and other interventions.
The bill will replace the so-called Tripartite structure, introduced by the previous Labour government.
The bill will create three new bodies, the first two within the Bank of England, to regulate financial services:
- The Financial Policy Committee (FPC), which will have overall responsibility for financial regulation and monitoring the risks of the financial sector to the economy. It will oversee, and have the power to instruct, two new financial watchdogs.
- The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which will take over responsibility for supervising the safety and soundness of individual financial firms.
- The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which will be tasked with protecting consumers from unfair practices, and making sure that workers in the financial services sector comply with rules.
An interesting addition to the bill sees the possibility of consumer credit being brought under the FCAs regime, although this will seem to require some further enacting legislation in the future. However it does seem as if the OFT's days as regulator of this areas may be numbered.