Think tank calls for Financial Services Bill amendments

Amendments should be made to the Financial Services Bill to ensure the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) properly promotes UK financial services in the global market, a think tank has said.

The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) called for two key amendments to be made to the bill - to legislate to ensure the FCA operates in support of British companies' and to ensure a competitive market for the provision of banking services is "an important part of the PRA's banking safety objective". CPS advisory council member Howard Flight, who wrote the report, argued the Treasury's reluctance towards including any direct references to international competitiveness and domestic competition comes from an aversion to being associated with ‘light touch' regulation. Flight said: "This ste...