Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the introduction of the duty of care; and what the process and timescale for that introduction will be.

The government believes that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the UK’s independent conduct regulator for the financial services industry, is best placed to lead the discussion on the merits of a duty of care for financial services providers.

The FCA have committed to issuing a Discussion Paper on a duty of care later this year. The Paper will invite contributions from all interested parties on the case for and against a duty of care, what form such a provision might take, and consequential issues arising from adopting it. This will be an open process designed to gather views.

In this context, the government welcomes the FCA’s continued commitment to this debate, and we do not think a legislative change would be appropriate at this time.