Temporary product intervention rules: transient or intransigent?

Temporary product intervention rules may be conceived as temporary, but stricter regulation of financial products and their design is here to stay, comment Charlotte Hill and William Maycock. They discuss the imminent regime along with fears that it will give the regulator too much power and stifle innovation within the sector.

Charlotte Hill, William Maycock and Victoria Silver are in the financial services and regulation team at law firm Stephenson Harwood. To contact them, email charlotte. hill@shlegal.com, william.maycock@shlegal.com and victoria.silver@shlegal.com.

One of the most controversial new measures in the Financial Services Bill currently winding its way through the legislative process in Parliament is the future Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) discretion to make temporary product intervention rules. In preparation for this, the FSA has recently published a draft statement of policy, detailing how the FCA will exercise this power, the factors to which it will have regard and examples of when the use of this power may be appropriate.