The Financial Services Bill – pre-election sound bites?

The Financial Services Bill was finally published after the Queen’s Speech on 18 November. Its provisions had already been well trailed by the Chancellor, so there were no surprises. The bill seeks to address the issues raised in consultations earlier in the year in the Treasury White Paper, the Walker review on Corporate Governance and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) proposal for amendments to the Credit Consumer Act 1974. Paul Edmondson, Maxine Cupitt and Jean Price of CMS Cameron McKenna consider its meaning for the regulator and regulated.

Paul Edmondson (+44 (0) 20 7367 2877, paul.edmondson@ cms-cmck.com), Maxine Cupitt (+44 (0) 20 7367 2865, maxine.cupitt@cms-cmck.com), Jean Price (+44 (0) 20 7367 3353, jean.price@cms-cmck.com). This article first appeared in Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna’s free online information service, and has been reproduced with their permission. For more information about Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com

In the current political situation, we cannot be certain that the bill will pass into law. Most of its provisions amend the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and extend the powers of the FSA, which the Conservatives, if elected, intend to scrap. The institutional provisions therefore have a short life expectancy but it seems likely that the tough-talking Conservatives will replicate the new regulatory powers in their regime.