Mortgage News
AMI: Regulatory accountability a “major concern”
Financial services regulators must be made more accountable to parliament and the industry, with a greater focus on cost effectiveness and integration with Europe, AMI has said.
Stephen Gay, director general of AMI, said that regulatory accountability was “still a major concern”, despite the proposed regulatory reform.
He said: “Regulators must be held more tightly accountable for the delivery of their objectives, both to parliament, the industry and consumers.
“The culture of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in particular must be responsive to the community it serves if it is to gain the respect of the industry.
“As part of this we believe the Prudential Regulatory Authority should also be consultative with the industry and include the practitioner panel within its structure.”
In addition, AMI warned that, if UK regulation fails to develop in line with European, it could lead to significant confusion for regulated firms, cost inefficiencies or damage the competitiveness of the UK.
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Nevertheless, Gay said that AMI is hopeful that the wider regulatory structure will deliver cost effective and proportionate regulation, and is encouraged by the move to regulation based on the systematic risk firms pose.
He added: “It’s important that regulatory creep does not limit competition and prevent people from accessing advice on their mortgage.
“In order to avert this, we believe the regulator should be obliged to publish a ‘competition/benefit analysis’ in the style of existing ‘cost/benefit analysis’ documents.
“This would outline the likely competitive impact of any given regulatory initiative.”
AMI’s comments came in response to a number of recent consultations on the future shape of financial services regulation.