‘Rocket boost’ Financial Services Act gets Royal Assent

The new FSMA 2023 becomes law today and is a key part of the Government’s plans to help financial services and the economy to grow.

The government says the Act will help, “grow the economy and create an open, sustainable, and technologically-advanced financial services sector.”

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The Act introduces new secondary objectives for the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority in addition to their primary roles of regulation – to facilitate the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy.

This will be backed up by changes to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the regulators, including ensuring regular reporting and a greater focus on cost-benefit analyses.

The Treasury said that the changes enable the delivery of Chancellor’s key Edinburgh Reforms, including implementation of Lord Hill’s UK Listing Review which simplifies the UK prospectus regime – potentially making the UK a better place for companies to arrange Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

According to the Treasury, the FSMA 2023 also:

• Enhances the scrutiny of the financial services regulators to ensure “clear accountability, appropriate democratic input and transparent oversight”
• Removes unnecessary restrictions on wholesale markets – implementing the key outcomes of the Wholesale Markets Review
• Protects free access to cash in law and introduces protections for victims of Authorised Push Payment scams
• Enables the regulation of cryptoassets to support their “safe adoption” in the UK
• Establishes ‘sandboxes’ that can facilitate the use of new technologies such as blockchain in financial markets

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 is a major plank of the government’s post-Brexit economic plans. It will help ‘tailor’ financial services regulation to fit UK markets, the government says.

The Act is designed to boost the competitiveness of the UK as a global financial centre and should deliver “better outcomes” for consumers and businesses.

It will add new post-Brexit powers that set a path towards reforms to Solvency II and will “unlock” about £100 billion for investment and help “cultivate innovation and grow the economy,” the government says.

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: “2023 is proving to be a banner year for reforming our financial services. This landmark piece of legislation gives us control of our financial services rulebook, so it supports UK businesses and consumers and drives growth.

“By repealing old EU laws set in Brussels it will unlock billions in investment – cash that can unlock innovation and grow the economy.”

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