Banking reform is the second key pillar of the Government's programme for reform of the financial sector to address the weaknesses exposed by the financial crisis of 2007-09. The first pillar of this programme, reform of financial services regulation, has been legislated in the Financial Services Act that received Royal Assent in December 2012 (2012 Ch. 21, 9780105421122). The Government is now legislating to reform the structure of the UK banking system, through the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill (HCB 130, session 2012-13, ISBN 9780215053794) which implements key recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking, including ring-fencing retail deposits from wholesale banking activities and depositor preference. This document accompanies introduction of the Bill and includes the Government response to the first report of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), which conducted pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft Bill. The response explains where the Government has amended the Bill and includes and impact assessment for the Bill, along with the opinion of the independent Regulatory Policy Committee

Royal assent, 18th December 2013. An Act to make further provision about banking and other financial services, including provision about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; to make provision for the amounts owed in respect of certain deposits to be treated as a preferential debt on insolvency; to make further provision about payment systems and securities settlement systems; to make provision about the accounts of the Bank of England and its wholly owned subsidiaries; to make provision in relation to persons providing claims management services. Explanatory notes have been produced to assist in the understanding of this Act and will be available separately

The financial services industry is being transformed by heightened regulation, technological disruption, and changing demographics. These structural forces have lowered barriers to entry, increasing competition from within and outside the industry, in the form of entrepreneurial fintech start-ups to large, non-financial technology-based companies. The Technological Revolution in Financial Services is an invaluable resource for those eager to understand the evolving financial industry. This edited volume outlines the strategic implications for financial services firms in North America, Europe, and other advanced economies. The most successful banks, insurance companies, and asset managers will partner with financial technology companies to provide a better and more innovative experience services to retail customers and small businesses. Ultimately this technological revolution will benefit customers and lead to a more open and inclusive financial system.

The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill aims to establish a more resilient, stable and competitive banking sector; to reduce the severity of a future financial crisis; and to protect taxpayers in the event of such a crisis. It is primarily an enabling Bill, which provides HM Treasury with the requisite powers to implement the policy underlying the Bill through secondary legislation. Three illustrative draft instruments were published in March 2013 in order to aid Parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill, and the Government has continued to develop those instruments. This paper invites comments on a further four statutory instruments: Ring-fenced Bodies and Core Activities Order; Excluded Activities and Prohibitions Order; Banking reform (Loss Absorbency Requirement) Order; and the Fees and Prescribed International Organisations Regulations. Further secondary legislation is planned for pensions and building societies.

The Independent Commission on Banking's final recommendations aim to create a more stable and competitive basis for UK banking for the long term. The result would be a banking system that is much less likely to cause, or succumb to, financial crises and the huge costs they bring; is self-reliant, so that the taxpayer does not have to bear the losses that banks make; and is effective and efficient at providing the basic banking services of safeguarding retail deposits, operating secure payments systems, and efficiently channelling savings to productive investments in the economy. Stability is crucial and UK banks should have more equity capital and loss-absorbing debt - beyond what has so far been internationally agreed - and their retail banking activities should be structurally separated, by a ring-fence, from wholesale and investment banking activities. The Commission also address competition, which has not been properly effective in UK retail banking. They recommend a seamless switching system based on redirection for personal and small business current accounts, free of cost and risk, complemented by measures to enhance transparency. The new Financial Conduct Authority should have a clear duty to promote effective competition. Structural reform should be complete by the Basel implementation date of 2019 at the latest. These reforms would result in better-capitalised, less leveraged banking more focused on the needs of savers and borrowers in the domestic economy. At the same time UK banks would be free to flourish in global markets, but without UK taxpayer support.

The U.S., the U.K., and more recently, the E.U., have proposed policy measures directly targeting complexity and business structures of banks. Unlike other, price-based reforms (e.g., Basel 3 and G-SIFI surcharges), these proposals have been developed unilaterally with material differences in scope, design and implementation schedules. This may exacerbate cross-border regulatory arbitrage and put a further burden on consolidated supervision and cross-border resolution. This paper provides an analysis of the potential implications of implementing different structural policy measures. It proposes a pragmatic and coordinated approach to development of these policies to reduce risk of regulatory arbitrage and minimize unintended consequences. In doing so, it also aims to identify a set of common policy measures that countries could adopt to re-scope bank business models and corporate structures.

This book explains how to deal with legal, compliance, and enforcement issues faced by banks and other financial institutions and their legal advisers. It focuses on the practical application of the generally applicable regulations and rules under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 governing the financial services sector as it changed and developed during and after the financial crisis. The book considers the key changes made by the Financial Services Act 2012 and the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 as well as policy developments brought about by the change in regime from the Financial Services Authority to the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority. Guidance is given on the application and enforcement of the rules taking all relevant sources into account including speeches and announcements by regulatory authorities, policy documents and pronouncements, practice developments, court cases, tribunal decisions, and enforcement proceedings. Providing real insight into the practical, legal, and policy issues affecting all dealing with the post-crisis regulatory environment, this book is essential for all advising on legal matters, compliance and enforcement in the financial sector.