| Synopsis: |
John Griffith-Jones is to chair the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Although the FCA is a successor body to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), his is not a continuity role. The Committee believes that the FCA can be radically different from its predecessor under the new chair in at least four respects: He must restore the credibility of the conduct regulator. Although a great deal of time and effort was put into conduct matters, the FSA left consumers exposed to some of the worst scandals in UK financial history. The Committee expects Mr Griffith-Jones and his board to ensure that the new organisation adopts a radically different approach. It is noted that the PRA, which has assumed responsibility for most prudential aspects of the FSA's work, has done this, with its adoption of a move to judgement-based regulation.The FCA has different objectives from the old FSA: as well as having to ensure that markets work well, it has objectives with regard to consumer protection, the integrity of the UK financial system, and competition.The Committee has criticised the complexity of the objectives set out for the FCA in the Financial Services Bill; but Mr Griffith-Jones and the FCA's senior leadership will need to think about the inter-relationship of the FCA's objectives and how meaningfully to fulfil them. The Treasury Committee will engage in an oversight role of the governance at the FCA and with the commitments that Mr Griffith-Jones has made to the Committee, Parliament will expect the new FCA to respond to Treasury Committee requests for information promptly and thoroughly. |