HM Treasury revealed that a forum made up of all financial services regulators will be set up to issue the schedule and give firm them time to plan ahead for changes.
The announcement was published in the Treasury’s response to the call for evidence for a review into the future regulation of financial services, released alongside its Budget documents today.
Known as the Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum, it will be made up of the Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority, Payment Systems Regulator and the Competition and Markets Authority.
The Treasury will observe the work of the forum, while the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Pensions Regulator and Financial Reporting Council will be invited to attend and contribute when needed.
The purpose of the forum is to help regulators identify and manage peaks in demand for regulation and give firms operating in the sector a clearer idea of the major upcoming initiatives across the financial services authorities.
Joined-up regulation
In its paper, the Treasury said: “The financial crisis showed how a fragmented regime can lead to significant risks being underestimated or missed altogether. Joined-up regulators are therefore essential to deliver financial stability, competition and effective consumer protection.”
It added that effective coordination was necessary to avoid duplication by regulators, to ensure that regulatory requirements did not conflict or overlap and to smoothly roll out initiatives to stop firms becoming overwhelmed by changes.
Starting this summer, a two-year projection of major pieces of regulation that will affect the financial services sector will be published.
The so-called regulatory initiatives grid, will include all publicly-announced supervisory or policy initiatives that could have a significant impact on how firms operate.
The grid will be managed by the forum and published twice a year. It will set out a provisional timetable for each regulatory initiative.
This schedule is expected to provide firms with a clearer picture of the upcoming regulatory activity, which should mean that firms will be better informed about initiatives which may affect their business, improving their ability to plan ahead.
