Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government in what ways the secondary competitiveness and economic growth objective under the Financial Services and Markets Bill will support the financial sector.

The new, secondary growth and competitiveness objectives introduced by the Financial Services and Markets Bill will ensure that the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can act to facilitate medium to long-term growth and international competitiveness.

A secondary objective strikes the right balance, by ensuring that the regulators have due regard to growth and competitiveness, while maintaining their focus on their existing objectives.

The government expects that there will be a step-change in the regulators’ approach to growth and competitiveness following the introduction of the new objectives, while maintaining high regulatory standards.

The FSM Bill includes a package of measures to increase the accountability of the PRA and the FCA to Parliament, strengthen their relationship to HM Treasury, and enhance their engagement with stakeholders. In addition, the government published a Call for Proposals on 9 May, seeking views on what additional metrics the regulators should publish to support scrutiny of their work embedding and advancing their new secondary growth and competitiveness objectives.