The Government last night climbed down over plans to give itself powers over regulators – after the Bank of England warned they would undermine its independence.
Ministers had sought to introduce rules allowing it to veto financial regulators’ decisions.
But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey both expressed strong opposition to the move.
Resistance: Ministers had sought to introduce rules allowing them to veto regulators’ decisions. But the Bank of England and the FCA both expressed strong opposition to the move
Yesterday, City minister Andrew Griffith said the move had been shelved.
He said: ‘The Government has decided not to proceed with the intervention power at this time.’
Last week, Bailey reiterated his concerns about the move to the Commons’ Treasury select committee.
He told MPs that to compete as a leading international financial centre the UK needed to have an effective legal and regulatory system and ‘we must not threaten that’.