Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of compliance costs for financial services.

The government has committed to cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25% by the end of the Parliament. This will take a whole-of-government approach to establish a baseline for the administrative costs of regulation and deliver an ambitious regulation reform programme, targeting reforms that remove or streamline administrative processes. No independent assessment has been commissioned for this work.

The financial services regulators are required by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to undertake and publish a Cost-Benefit Analysis when consulting on any proposal to make or amend rules, to analyse the likely expected costs and benefits arising from the changes.

The Treasury is working with the financial services regulators to reduce regulatory burdens on financial services firms while maintaining high regulatory standards.

As part of the Regulation Action Plan, the government announced that it will consolidate the Payments Systems Regulator into the Financial Conduct Authority, to provide a more streamlined approach to regulation for businesses.

The Regulation Action Plan also confirmed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are taking steps to review and streamline reporting requirements for firms.

The government is committed to ensuring our regulation is fit for purpose, ensuring it meets our commitments to maintaining the UK’s high standards and protections whilst ensuring we do not hold back growth with unnecessary red tape.